Public discourse is replete with talk about the fragility of young women’s self-esteem, linking poor self-concept to a range of social problems associated with girlhood. We know little about the impact of these ideas on young women. In this article, we examine interviews with 66 girls, aged 14–22, to understand how they talk about the link between self-esteem and sexual expression in everyday life. We find that girls’ talk about self-esteem uses classed meanings that unintentionally reinforce and extend the role of sexuality in girls’ status hierarchies, benefitting those with more class resources, while policing all girls’ abilities to claim sexual agency.
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