"Losing Who I'm Supposed to Be": Undergraduate Women (Re)Construct the Risks of Intimate Relationships

• In Event: 70.038 - Issues of Gender and Higher Education

Abstract

Intimate relationships are central in the social context of traditional higher education institutions and deeply inform many students’ college experiences, yet are an underexplored element of academic life. This study expands this literature by investigating how undergraduate women make meaning of intimate relationships in a time of shifting educational and career expectations, by asking: How do high-achieving undergraduate women construct the risks of intimate relationships? Through a qualitative analysis of 76 semi-structured interviews, I find that study participants describe relationships as threatening to their autonomy, individual success, and sense of control. These findings suggest the power of neoliberal individual achievement imperatives for young women and suggest ways these discourses may be transforming the shape of undergraduate life.

Author

• Elizabeth E. Blair, University of Wisconsin - Madison