Precarious Agency: Gendered Status and Risk in the Inter-Collegiate Scene

• In Event: 3166 - Section on the Sociology of Consumers and Consumption Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 1: Space and Place: Virtual and Physical

Abstract

Amid the transformation of higher education into a consumer social experience, college women confront conflicting messages of behavior. On the one hand, renewed attention to Title IX protections sensitize students to risks of consuming college nightlife. On the other hand, post-feminist empowerment rhetoric and hook-up culture discourses often encourage women to exert their sexual agency. This paper considers how women navigate these tensions with a research design comparing women’s experiences across the inter-collegiate party scene of Boston. We compare women’s perceptions of pleasure and risk across three main party scenes in which students cross the perceived status boundaries between Boston University, MIT, and Harvard. Based on participant observation, 32 interviews, and four focus groups with students from three universities, we argue that college women navigate hierarchies both internal to their universities and across the urban collegiate field. Ultimately, we find that college women perceive heightened risk around low- and high-status parties. We conclude that gendered institutional hierarchies structure college social life.

Authors

• Ashley E. Mears, Boston University

• Heather Mooney, Boston University