Loading...
Rescripting Courtship in Unsettled Times: The Gendered Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Kendrick, Sam
Kendrick, Sam
An error occurred retrieving the object's statistics
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract
This dissertation examines how significant changes in the social landscape affect courtship practices and impact norms and expectations surrounding gender and sexuality. Because of the intimate relationship among courtship, gender roles, and sexual scripts, transformations in the logistics of courtship have the capacity to disrupt men’s and women’s gender and sexual identities and behaviors. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally altered America’s social landscape, longstanding courtship practices were disrupted. Drawing from 103 interviews conducted between August 2020 and November 2023, I examine the pandemic’s impact on gender power dynamics in the context of the American courtship process. I ask: How did the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic reshape American courtship culture? How important was the pandemic as a historical force disrupting the US gender and sexual order? I find gender differences in how individuals responded to the pandemic's disruption of courtship scripts. In my analysis of women, I argue that women's reflection and conscious navigation of pandemic dating led many to question social expectations and deprioritize romance in a way that left many expressing a newfound sense of self confidence and empowerment. Among men, I observed a more polarizing response to the pandemic's disruptions. I identify and compare two groups of men: the neo-traditionalists, who sought to maintain or reinstate male dominance, and the non-traditionalists, who sought new, more flexible ways of being a man. I discuss the implications of my findings and point to directions for future research.
Description
Date
2024-01-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Kansas
Collections
Archive Status
This item contains archived web content.
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Sociology, Gender studies, courtship, culture, dating, gender, sexual scripts