Major(s) Attitude(s)
Sexual Values and Behaviors
at a Women’s College
By Amanda Deja
Overview
• Introduction
• Thesis/Purpose
• Literature Review
• Theory
• Method
• Findings
• Discussion
• Questions
Introduction
• Saint Mary’s College is a Women’s Catholic Liberal Arts
Institution in Notre Dame IN.
• Non-traditional Major- A major that is
underrepresented by women or new to the realm of
academia.
▫ Examples: Math and Women’s Studies
• Traditional Major- A major that has been well
represented by women over the past century.
▫ Examples: Education and Nursing
Purpose and Thesis
• This study aims to analyze how sexual attitudes
and behaviors differ between traditional and
non-traditional majors at an all women’s
Catholic college.
• I hope to better understand how an educational
discipline constructs a person’s attitudes and
behaviors in regards to sexuality.
Literature Review
• Traditional Majors
▫ Pavalko (1970)
▫ Blakemore and Low (1984)
▫ Jacobs (1986)
▫ Jacobs (1995)
▫ Bradley (2007)
• Non-traditional Majors
▫ Gray (1972)
▫ Wood (1981)
▫ Jacobs (1986)
▫ Westkott and Victoria (1991)
▫ Bradley (2007)
Literature Review
• Attitudes toward Sexual Behaviors
▫ Thornton and Camburn (1987)
▫ Donovan (1998)
▫ Remez (2000)
▫ Bearman and Bruckner (2001)
▫ Waite and Lehrer (2003)
▫ Bay-Cheng and Zucker (2007)
• Women’s Colleges
▫ Smith (1990)
▫ Riordan (1994)
Theory
• Social Construction Theory
▫ Donileen Loseke: 2003
• Education can construct attitudes and beliefs
about the world.
▫ The major that you choose will aid in how you
construct your attitudes toward society.
Method:
Procedure
• The chair’s from each of the departments sent
out my survey to each of the majors.
• Survey made available by using Survey
Monkey.
• Consent was given by clicking yes.
• Participants had to answer specific questions.
Example: What major are you in?
Method:
Materials
• I created a survey which asked question about
sexual attitudes and behaviors.
• The survey consisted of 41 questions.
• The questions were multiple choice, true and
false, likert scale, and short answer.
• Participants took the survey online.
Method Materials:
Survey Question Examples
• Are you a virgin?
• If you are not a virgin, state age you lost your virginity.
• Did/Do your parent(s) or guardian(s) condone the practice of premarital
sex?
• If you are sexually active do you use protection 100% of the time against
pregnancy and STDs?
• Do you consider oral sex sex?
• How much guilt do you feel about masturbating, if you answered yes to
question #19? 1 is no guilt. 5 is the most possible guilt you can feel.
• Have you passionately kissed someone of the same sex?
• Have you engaged in sexual activities with more than one person at the
same time? (ex: threesomes, foursomes, etc.)
• How often do you have sexual fantasies during the day? 1 is never. 5 is all
the time.
Method:
Participants
• Sample comes from four majors at Saint Mary’s College.
• 85 participants between the ages of 18-22.
• Only 65 completed the survey.
• Nursing = 40 participants
• Education = 9 participants
• Math = 15 participants
• Women’s Studies = 1 participant
Method:
Pros and Cons
• Pros
▫ Large number of Nursing major respondents.
▫ The survey is large, with questions related to attitudes and
behaviors.
▫ A large number of respondents gave descriptive answers
to the short answers questions.
• Cons
• Only one Women’s Studies respondent.
• Would have opened up the survey to minors.
• Would have liked a larger Education Major sample.
• Time.
Findings
• The four majors were divided into two groups.
• Nursing and Education are traditional majors.
• Math and Women’s Studies are non-traditional majors.
• The questions are divided into four different categories.
▫ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Sexual Intercourse.
▫ Attitudes toward Sexual Education and Methods of Birth
Control.
▫ Sexual Behaviors other than Sexual Intercourse.
▫ Attitudes toward the Practice of Abortion.
Findings:
Nursing
Nursing Majors Nursing Majors
Answer Yes No Other
Answer Yes No Other
Still A Virgin 59% (23) 41% (17) 0
Have 65% (26) 35% (14) 0
Participated
Agree With 50% (20) 32.5% (13) 17.5% (7) in Oral Sex
Premarital Have 12.5% (5) 87.5% (35) 0
Sex Participated
Agree With 90% (36) 10% (4) 0 in Anal Sex
Sex Ed in View 80% (32) 20% (8) 0
Schools Pornography
Agree With 75% (30) 17.5% (7) 7.5% (3) Masturbate 22.5% (9) 77.5% (31) 0
Use of
Artificial Agree With 25% (10) 75% (30) 0
Birth the Practice
Control of Abortion
Natural Family Planning
1 2 3 4 5
Least Trust Most Trust
15% (6) 22.5% (9) 47.5% (19) 7.5% (3) 7.5% (3)
Findings:
Education
Education Majors Education Majors
Answer Yes No Other Answer Yes No Other
Have 56% (5) 44% (4) 0
Still A 67% (6) 33% (3) 0 Participated
Virgin in Oral Sex
Agree With 56% (5) 44% (4) 0 Have 12% (2) 88% (7) 0
Premarital Participated
Sex in Anal Sex
Agree With 78% (7) 22% (2) 0 View 67% (6) 33% (3) 0
Sex Ed in Pornograph
Schools y
Agree With 78% (7) 22% (2) 0 Masturbate 44% (4) 56% (5) 0
Use of
Artificial Agree With 44% (4) 56% (5) 0
Birth the Practice
Control of Abortion
Natural Family Planning
1 2 3 4 5
Least Trust Most Trust
0 56% (5) 11% (1) 0 33% (3)
Findings:
Math
Math Majors Math Majors
Answer Yes No Other Answer Yes No Other
Have 47% (7) 53% (8) 0
Still A 67% (10) 33% (5) 0 Participated
Virgin in Oral Sex
Have 7% (1) 93% (14) 0
Agree With 67% (10) 13% (2) 20% (3)
Participated
Premarital
in Anal Sex
Sex
View 53% (8) 47% (7) 0
Agree With 73% (11) 7% (1) 20% (3) Pornograph
Sex Ed in y
Schools Masturbate 67% (10) 33% (5) 0
Agree With 73% (11) 20% (3) 7% (1)
Use of Agree With 67% (10) 33% (5) 0
Artificial the Practice
Birth of Abortion
Control
Natural Family Planning
1 2 3 4 5
Least Trust Most Trust
33% (5) 13.5% (2) 33% (5) 13.5% (2) 7% (1)
Findings:
Women’s Studies
• There was only one Women’s Studies respondent.
• She is a virgin.
• Agrees with the practice of premarital sex.
• Agrees with Sex Education in schools.
• She gave Natural Family Planning a score of 2.
• Agrees with the use of artificial birth control.
• Has never participated in oral or anal sex.
• She masturbates.
• She does not view pornography.
• She agrees with the practice of abortion.
Findings:
Short Answer Responses
• What sexual experience has impacted you most to this
date?
• Traditional Major Response
“I think losing my virginity impacted me the most to this date because it was with my boyfriend
(who I'm still with), so it meant a lot to me. Every time we have sex it is special, but the first time
probably had the biggest impact on me.”
• Non-traditional Major Response
“Everyone has different personalities when they have sex. Sometimes they are mad, sad, happy, or
just complacent. It's a lot like how we act around people. It all depends on the mood. My long-
term boyfriend and I hadn't seen each other in a long time, so when I returned home, he
surprised me by taking me out to a nice romantic dinner, instead of just normal takeout and a
movie like we normally would. We went to dinner and then we sat in the bed of his truck and just
watched the city go to bed ... From where we live, it really is quite the view to watch the change in
lights. Except, that's not what you are interested in so, when it finally came time to go back home
and go to bed, we were laying in bed, being all sentimental, and something just clicked. It was not
the first time we had had sex, but somehow this time felt much different, almost like we could
read each other's minds. It was loving, sentimental, and comforting to be able to feel the love we
felt for each other. I believe that sex is sex, but somehow, that night it was so much more.”
Discussion
• From the findings one must ask themselves what comes
first:
▫ Do women in non-traditional majors have non-traditional
views due their area of study or are those who have non-
traditional attitudes to begin with attracted to non-traditional
fields of study for women.
• Those who are already bending norms constructed by
society, by choosing a major outside their gender role
are more willing to see outside other norms in society as
well.
Questions?
Thank you for listening.
