Gender, Heterosexuality, Sexual Violence and Identity among Heavy-Drinking White and Asian American College Students.

Abstract

In this dissertation I use qualitative methods to explore the social practices, intersections and co-constructions of gender, sexuality, race, and identity in the context of campus partying. Drawing on data from 90 interviews with white and Asian American college students who identify as heavy drinkers, as well as over 30 hours of ethnographic observations of campus bars, I investigate students’ experiences with partying, and develop suggestions for preventing some of the most detrimental outcomes of partying – substance abuse and sexual violence. The results of these analyses are presented here in four distinct empirical articles. In the first article I demonstrate the importance of partying to individuals’ lives, sense of belonging, and self-identity. I suggest that reconceptualizing partying as an identity, and a social practice through which identity is constructed, could improve substance abuse intervention. In the second article I find that hooking-up while drinking is much less common, less expected, and less accepted in Asian American party cultures than in white ones; this provides support for de-linking the naturalized connection between alcohol and sexual behavior. Further, I find both racialized gender differences and gendered racial differences in the relationship between alcohol and sexual behavior, suggesting value of an intersectional analysis. In the next article I explore the processes of heterosexual interaction while drinking, including how sexual interest and consent are communicated. Students report many “gray areas” around communicating sexual interest and consent, and describe the simultaneity of both sexual agency and exploitation in the context of drinking. The final empirical article draws on a subsample of 31 women and uses insights from Foucault’s theories of power to explore women’s strategies for negotiating the risks of sexual violence while partying. I show that women reproduce traditional gender norms and stereotypes in their interactions with each other, and suggest that deconstructing these patterns of interaction offers new possibilities for sexual violence prevention. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of general themes that run through all four empirical articles, offering recommendations for future research and for applying insights from these analyses to the prevention and intervention of substance abuse and sexual violence.