Challenging discourse themes reproducing gender in heterosexual dating: Ananalog study

Societal discourses tied to gender play a powerful role in shaping ideas an d views about normal sexual experience. This study investigated whether "ma le sexual drive" discourse themes in heterosexual dating could be reproduce d in a laboratory setting, and whether these themes could be disrupted by m eans of a laboratory intervention. Young, single, heterosexual adults, most of whom were Caucasian and middle class, role played a series of dating sc enarios. In half of the 37 dyads, male participants were instructed to init iate a first date and then later greater sexual intimacy, to which their fe male partners were instructed to say they were not ready (the condition des igned to reproduce dominant discourse themes). In the other half the instru ctions for the male and female partners were reversed (the condition design ed to change or disrupt dominant discourse themes). Analysis of the role-pl ayed dialogues indicated that dominant discourse themes associated with the male sexual drive discourse were prevalent in both experimental conditions . Ways of broadening our understanding of how gender processes are reproduc ed and disrupted are discussed in the context of heterosexual dating relati onships.