Estudios Irlandeses, Issue 18, 2023, pp. 148-160. https://doi.org/10.24162/EI2023-11443 _______________________________________________________________________________________AEDEI ________________________________ ISSN 1699-311X The Continuum of Irish Female Sexuality in Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Normal People: A Contradicted Ireland Sofía Alférez Mendía University of Almería Copyright (c) 2023 by Sofía Alférez Mendía. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the author and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged for access. Abstract. After the Celtic Tiger years, Irish society seems to have transitioned into a much more welcoming environment for the production of literature, and in general, for the arts. The proliferation of literature, and, more specifically, of women writers and portrayals of girlhood, is giving way to a significant visualization of female voices and female issues, Sally Rooney being one of those voices. Therefore, in this paper I aim to analyse her contribution to the current Irish literary landscape through her novels Conversations with Friends (2017) and Normal People (2018), where sex and female sexuality become two of the major themes. Trauma, guilt and shame (Free and Scully 2016), as key traits of recessionary Irish identity, will also be taken into account by looking into Rooney’s characters’ attitudes as they perform their own sexuality. Hence, both the advantage of a higher social awareness of female issues and the disadvantage of an ashamed Post-Celtic Tiger society mix, thus influencing the representation of 21 st century Irish female sexuality, and also creating a definitely contradicted society (Crowley 2013), where social advances keep pushing forward while post-boom trauma and self-regulation keep them back. Key Words. Irish female sexuality, Irish recession, Sally Rooney, female voices, contemporary Irish literature. Resumen. Tras los años del Tigre Celta, la sociedad irlandesa ha adoptado un ambiente más acogedor para la producción de literatura, y en general, para las artes. La proliferación de literatura, y más específicamente, de mujeres escritoras y la representación de la infancia de las niñas está dando pie a una mayor visualización de voces y asuntos relacionados con las mujeres, siendo Sally Rooney una de estas voces. Por lo tanto, en este artículo, trato de analizar su contribución a la actual Irlanda a través de sus obras literarias Conversations with Friends (2017) y Normal People (2018), donde el sexo y la sexualidad femenina son dos temas centrales; por esta razón, el trauma, la culpabilidad y la vergüenza (Free and Scully 2016), se tendrán también en cuenta para analizar las actitudes de los personajes de Rooney a la hora de expresar su propia sexualidad. De esta forma, la ventaja de una sociedad irlandesa más consciente de los problemas de las mujeres se mezcla con la desventaja de una sociedad que,