Powerful, weightless, and free: reconceptualising young people's narratives of resistance in the context of sexual violence and exploitation using recognition theory

Meeting the needs of young people affected by sexual exploitation, alongside other forms of extra-familial harm, remains a challenge for social workers, youth workers and other professionals responsible for their safety and well-being. This paper proposes that to more effectively create safety with/for young people, we must re-examine how we understand and interpret their responses to professionals including acts of resistance, drawing upon Recognition Theory to support this. Specifically in this paper we utilise Jackson and Mazzei's method for ‘thinking with theory’ to bring Recognition Theory into the ‘threshold’ with data from a three-year participatory arts project with young people (aged 13–25) in England. In applying the work of three theorists who have contributed to the development of Recognition Theory: Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser, and Judith Butler, the paper describes how their theoretical contributions both enable new questions about young people's resistance to emerge and support identification of new answers within the data. Findings highlight the need to shift our focus away from seeing young people's resistance as a problem and instead, recognise the possibilities of resistance—including a more honest and humble awareness of the limits to professionals' influence, and the need to create space for more expansive frames of recognisability where young people's whole, dynamic selves can be known.