Thirty-eight young men and women from contrasting social locations were interviewed in depth about their sexual relationships, with a focus on gender roles and attitudes, romantic relationship expectations and sexual experiences. Analysis of young people's narratives revealed that these moved relatively easily between 'normative' and 'alternative' frameworks when situating and accounting for attitudes and heterosexual practices. Despite some evidence for the existence of 'nonhegemonic' narratives, young people often reverted to more normative models of heterosexual experience and expectations. Gender and prior negative (childhood) experiences appeared to influence young people's ideas about and expressions of 'alternative' identities and practices while, within the context of this small-scale study, the impact of socio-economic status seemed relatively insignificant.