6th July 2011: Let's talk about sex baby; Sexual communication explored through survey results by Fiona McQueen

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Name of speaker and subject:

Fiona McQueen – Sociology

Title of talk:

‘Let’s talk about sex baby; Sexual communication explored through survey results’

Bullet points of what you would like to cover:

A brief history of sociological debate around gender differences within sexual communication.  Results of the ‘Scottish Sexual Attitudes Survey 2010’ – a survey of 1000 people in Scotland
Hypothesising as to the implications of these results
 

A few words about you and your passion:

I am doing a PhD at Edinburgh University in sexual communication which looks at whether there is a generational difference in gender hierarchies; for example looking at relationships between men and women and how power dynamics are changing.

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A few lines about the history of your subject:

Arguments have been made that a ‘de-traditionalisation of gender’ is taking place leading to men and women becoming more equal in power in social life.  This has implications for intimate relationships but social change is a hard thing to gauge which is what this survey and PhD is trying to do
The central aim of this research is to understand heterosexual couple’s ideas about, and experiences of, sexual communication in the context of heterosexuality, gender and embodiment. In studying this, this research includes two subsidiary areas; considering the role and nature of both emotional intimacy and power in sexual communication. In order to investigate these areas the following research questions will be answered through the course of the research.

  • Do factors such as age, gender or relationship status change the nature of sexaul communication?
  • What is the nature of agency within sexual communication?
  • How is emotional intimacy defined and valued within sexual communication?
  • What is the relationship between agency and emotional intimacy within sexual communication?

This research includes an online survey of 1,000 participants conducted in early 2010, followed by telephone interviews completed in the summer 2010.  After returning from maternity leave Fiona is now preparing for the main period of data collection, in-depth interviews, which will be conducted around Scotland until the end of 2011.

The Survey…