Identities Under Construction by Pamela Dickey Young
Growing numbers of young adults are either nonreligious or spiritual but not religious, but this does not signal a lack of interest in religion and meaning-making. Though the lexicon describing sexuality and gender is quickly evolving, young people do not yet have satisfactory language to describe their fluid religious and spiritual identities. In Identities Under Construction Pamela Dickey Young and Heather Shipley undertake a focused study of youth sexual, religious, and gender identity construction. Drawing from survey responses and interviews with nearly five hundred participants, they reveal that youth today consider their identities fluid and open to change. Young people do not limit themselves to singular identity categories, experiencing the choice of one religion, of maleness or femaleness, or of a fixed sexuality as confining. Although they recognize various forces at work in identity construction - parents, peers, the internet - they regard themselves as the authors of their own identities. For most of the young adults in the study, even those who are most traditionally religious, religious opinions and values should adapt to changing social mores to ensure that people are not judged for their sexual choices or identities. Further, they are not judgmental of others' choices, even if they would not make these choices for themselves. Engaging religion and sexuality studies in new ways, Identities Under Construction calls for a new grammar of religion that better captures lived realities at a time when religious choice has broadened beyond choosing a single organized religious tradition.
Dickey Young and Shipley let their participants define their gender, sexuality, and religiosity in their own words - a sophisticated and thoughtful choice that truly reflects the spirit of their findingsSeveral of the compelling participants' narratives promise to stay with readers long after they put down this book. The authors wield an impressive amount of data, revealing a generation's lived experiences of religion and sexuality in Canada as we have never seen before. Jennifer A. Selby, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Pamela Dickey Young is professor and interim director of the School of Religion at Queen's University. Heather Shipley is a project manager in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780228001065 |
| ISBN 10 | 0228001064 |
| Title | Identities Under Construction |
| Author | Pamela Dickey Young |
| Series | Advancing Studies In Religion |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | McGill-Queen's University Press |
| Year published | 2020-07-23 |
| Number of pages | 264 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |