ABSTRACT
This introduction presents the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book adopts a mixed-method research design, consisting of three stages: an online questionnaire, which collected primarily quantitative, but also qualitative data; individual face-to-face interviews; video diaries, recorded over a period of approximately seven days. Youth are implicated in this discourse and its development. Youthful bodies are held up as perfect emblems of sexuality, referenced in, among others, magazines, advertisements, music videos and films. Qualitative data from the questionnaire, the interviews and the video diaries were analysed using a thematic approach to produce a coding frame with multiple categories. The online questionnaire aimed to document participants' views and experiences on a host of issues pertaining to their religion, sexuality, and being young adults in mainstream society. Like religion, sexuality and gender are lived phenomena, constituted through various cultural norms.
