Hookups and Hang-Ups in the Virtual Age: Gender and the (New) Sexual Politics in College

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Identity Matters in Leadership: Aspects of Race, Gender, and Culture

Abstract

Gender roles and relations have been in flux for decades, but this is accelerating rapidly in an era of social media, texting, and camera phones, with their culture of immediacy, self-disclosure and voyeurism. The literature has never adequately dealt with notions of consent, coercion and force. It has also failed to keep pace with new realities associated with experiences and definitions of celibacy, sex, consent, and dating. The purpose of this study is to develop a contemporary grounded theoretical understanding of how college students navigate their amorous interests and relations, with the intention of reducing instances of coercive and nonconsensual sexual encounters; and to inform more nuanced policies and practices among Higher Education institutions and those regulating them.

Authors

• Jason Laker, San José State University

• Erica Misako Boas, University of California - Berkeley