Using in-depth interviews with 43 college women who were, on average, 21 years old (SD = 0.79), the authors explored women's attitudes toward and experiences of cunnilingus. The authors found that cunnilingus posed interactional challenges for women, but that these varied by relationship context. Drawing on scripting theory, the authors argue that the sexual scripts available to contemporary American college students assume cunnilingus in relationships, but not in hookups, where the incorporation of the practice is more contested. For individual women, tension emerged when their preferences for cunnilingus contradicted the sexual script of the relationship context. Women who desired cunnilingus in hookups had to be assertive to get it, whereas those who did not want cunnilingus in hookups were relieved that it was not expected. The taken-for-granted nature of cunnilingus in relationships was a source of pleasure for women who enjoyed it and of difficulty for women who wished to avoid it. In relationships, some women's reluctance about cunnilingus was transformed by men's enthusiasm. More generally, this study implies that ambiguity in sexual scripts may heighten the interactional challenges of sex by creating uncertainty about expectations and gaps between sexual scripts and individual preferences.

We update Ferree and Hall’s (1996) examination of the stratification systems of gender, race, and class in introductory textbooks. Using a sample of textbooks from 2003 through 2010, we explore 24 introductory sociology textbooks to determine the relationship between categories of gender, race, and class and levels of analysis. Previous research found that textbooks primarily discuss gender at the micro level, race at the meso level, and class at the macro level. Replicating previous approaches by using index citations, we find evidence that gender is linked to socialization much more than race and class, and there is evidence that class is still more likely to be discussed at a macro level. Our content analysis findings show a similar pattern, but also some evidence for the increased inclusion of theories and examples that examine gender, race, and class at multiple levels of analysis. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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This study examines the role cultural capital plays in students’ culinary training. I argue students’ class-dependent cultural capital influenced how they experienced culinary school. I examine how the organization and the standards of culinary school—which draw on aspects of high culture—create barriers for some students. I discuss how students with omnivorous tastes are better equipped to navigate the cultural capital dominant in culinary schools. Prior understanding of omnivorous tastes helps students, as they learn about the culinary field, but given the unequal distribution of the students’ economic capital, not all of the students had equal access to developing such wide range of tastes. This study spans 15 months of ethnographic observations at a culinary arts school in an urban Midwestern city, where I observed students’ interactions in kitchen classrooms and culinary competitions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 50 students and 10 chef instructors. The findings indicate that some students’ class backgrounds limit their opportunities for informal learning and socialization. I found that socioeconomic status, race, and geographical region influenced the students’ cultural capital and their ability to participate in kitchen culture.

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