Generation and Memories of Sex and Reproduction in Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain

In this article I explore the influence of one's generation on the interview encounter in a group of oral history interviews I conducted with women from Oxfordshire and Berkshire about their lives in mid-twentieth-century Britain. I examine how the women interviewed told their stories of gaining sexual knowledge, at home and at school, and my influence as the interviewer in determining what was said. I pay special attention to the theme of generational difference, both in the interviewees' way of structuring their accounts and in the influence of my and my interviewees' respective ages in shaping the interview encounter. I conclude that our different ages influenced what was discussed in the course of the interview and the ways in which it was articulated.