Masculine Status, Sexual Performance, and the Sexual Stigmatization of Women

Abstract

Collegiate hookup culture advances ideas of male sexuality as relentless and indiscriminate but disrupts beliefs about women-that they should avoid casual sex encase sexual desires in romantic motives and strive for committed relationshipsthus putting women at risk of being sexually stigmatized. Although research has examined how college women negotiate competing expectations (Hamilton and Armstrong 2009;Wilkins and Dalessandro 2013), little research has examined how collegiate sexual culture and gender beliefs create dilemmas for men as well (for an exception, see Wilkins 2012). In this article, I draw on in-depth and focus group interview data with college students to investigate the sexual and romantic experiences of a group of class-and race-privileged fraternity men.While demonstrations of heterosexual mastery and the domination of women are key to peer belonging and masculine status among these men, enacting the group's construction of sexualized masculinity comes with costs to individuals. Men have to calibrate their personal preferences and practices with the group's competitive and

Sexual Assault on College Hookups: The Role of Alcohol and Acquaintances

“…; Hamilton and Armstrong ). Men may draw on sexist discourse on campus and use it to categorize their hookup partners in certain ways (Ray and Rosow ; Sweeney ). If we combine and extend these theories of sexual assault—social capital and sexist categorization—it may provide a better understanding for why knowing a partner matters.…”

“…For example, if a woman hooks up with a man she does not know well, perhaps he categorizes her as someone who is “low status” and, therefore, less deserving of sexual respect (Armstrong et al. ; Sweeney ).…”

“…Despite women's newfound freedom to hook up with "no strings attached," studies show gender inequality still reigns through the prioritization of male pleasure and the maligning of women perceived as promiscuous (England et al 2007;Hamilton and Armstrong 2009). Men may draw on sexist discourse on campus and use it to categorize their hookup partners in certain ways (Ray and Rosow 2010;Sweeney 2014). If we combine and extend these theories of sexual assault-social capital and sexist categorization-it may provide a better understanding for why knowing a partner matters.…”

“…If we combine and extend these theories of sexual assault-social capital and sexist categorization-it may provide a better understanding for why knowing a partner matters. For example, if a woman hooks up with a man she does not know well, perhaps he categorizes her as someone who is "low status" and, therefore, less deserving of sexual respect (Armstrong et al 2006;Sweeney 2014).…”

Recruitment Tools for Reaching Millennials

“…In this article, I discuss attempts to recruit young adults in the United States who belong to the "millennial" generationwhich refers here to those born between 1982and 1993. In 2014 recruited 42 young adults between the ages of 22 and 32 as part of a larger project examining intimacy.…”