Challenging discourse themes reproducing gender in heterosexual dating: An analog study

Societal discourses tied to gender play a powerful role in shaping ideas and views about normal sexual experience. This study investigated whether "male sexual drive" discourse themes in heterosexual dating could be reproduced in a laboratory setting, and whether these themes could be disrupted by means of a laboratory intervention. Young, single, heterosexual adults, most of whom were Caucasian and middle class, role played a series of dating scenarios. In half of the 37 dyads, male participants were instructed to initiate a first date and then later greater sexual intimacy, to which their female partners were instructed to say they were not ready (the condition designed to reproduce dominant discourse themes). In the other half the instructions for the male and female partners were reversed (the condition designed to change or disrupt dominant discourse themes). Analysis of the role-played 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 reproduced and disrupted are discussed in the context of heterosexual dating relationships.