Project leader: Prof. Dr Karin Flaake

The project focused

• to societal representations of female physicality and their significance for young women’s bodily experiences and perceptions;

• the often unconscious messages contained within family interactions, through which the physical changes young women undergo during puberty are imbued with ‘social meaning’;

• the specific adolescent conflicts faced by young women from families with an ethnic minority background;

• adolescence in young men and the dynamics triggered by a son’s puberty within families, including the associated constructs of masculinity.

The projects resulted in a series of publications, including one produced in collaboration with students.
Building on key findings from the study on the adolescence of young men, research began in the summer semester of 2006 into the developmental opportunities of boys and young men whose fathers were involved in childcare from an early stage – a subject area on which there have been very few studies to date, even internationally.

Key publications:

Flaake, Karin (2001): Body, Sexuality and Gender. Studies on the Adolescence of Young Women, Giessen

Blanke, Mechthild/Flaake, Karin (2002): “In any case, I want to earn respect through my achievements”. Young women who have come from Russia. Reports from the Centre for Intercultural Women’s and Gender Studies, No. 4, October 2002

Flaake, Karin (2005): Young men, adolescence and family relationships. In: King, Vera/Flaake, Karin (eds.): Male Adolescence. Socialisation and Educational Processes between Childhood and Adulthood. Frankfurt am Main/New York, 99–120