Interview with Anita, 16-17, South Asian, working class, Muslim. Women, Risk and AIDS Project, London, 1989. Anonymised version including field notes. (Ref: LSFS21)

This interview is part of the Women, Risk and Aids Project (1989-90) archive which was created as part of the Reanimating Data Project (2018-20).<br>Anonymised transcript of an interview with Anita. She is from a Muslim family, and though her parents are fairly liberal and westernised, they've been much stricter with her than with her older sister. Anita is allowed to date at the moment, but her partner would also have to be Muslim - she isn't too concerned about relationships right now. She has mixed feelings around having an arranged marriage in the future and wouldn't to do it for the sake of it. Anita is worried about sexual experiences before marriage, as there are particular customs in Muslim culture around virginity that she would need to adhere to. She has some interesting thoughts on the ways that pleasure, marriage and religion intersect, and the expectations that are placed on Muslim wives. Sex education at her secondary school wasn't taken too seriously by Anita, as she could never imagine being old enough to need that sort of information. She would have liked to have been taught about the emotional aspects of relationships too. Anita isn't sure what she would like to do in the future, but doesn't want marriage or children until much later on.