“Boys Should Have the Courage to Ask a Girl Out”: Gender norms in early adolescent romantic relationships

This study explores how gender norms emerge in romantic relationships among early adolescents in five low-income urban areas: Baltimore, Cuenca, Edinburgh, Ghent, and Nairobi. Findings from the study indicate that stereotypical gender norms about romantic relationships prevail across these cultural settings, where boys were portrayed as romantically/sexually active and dominant, and girls were portrayed as innocent with less (romantic) agency.