Saint Mary's College



Major(s) Attitude(s)

Sexual Values and Behaviors at a Women’s College

By Amanda Michelle Deja

Undergraduate

Saint Mary's College

adeja01@saintmarys.edu

December 1, 2008

Susan Alexander

salexander@saintmarys.edu

Abstract

Saint Mary's College is a Catholic women's college in Notre Dame, IN, known for its excellent liberal education for the woman of today. There is an array of majors that a woman may choose to study while attending Saint Mary's College. This research begins with the assumption that a woman’s choice of major affects the type of education received and the way in which she views the world. Education and Nursing have both been considered traditional majors for women. Math and Women's Studies are both newer fields for women making them nontraditional majors. This research examines female majors in these four majors regarding their attitudes and behaviors toward sexuality. The results from the surveys of 65 women found that attitudes regarding sexuality and sexual behaviors varied by traditional or nontraditional major. While traditional women's majors hold "traditional" views, nontraditional majors have "bent" gender roles in order to study their major of choice and their nontraditional views of gender are also seen in their attitudes and behaviors toward sexuality.

“Major(s) Attitude(s)

Sexual Values and Behaviors at a Women’s College”

Sociologists believe people are shaped by the differing social environment that we live in. Various social environments shape an individual's values, attitudes, likes, and dislikes. For example, when a student selects a college, that college will be a new social environment with its own values. Within each college, individuals also choose a major with additional values. Thus, a question emerges to whether one’s area of study has a significant impact on how a female student views the world. One particular area of interest is how a major might shape one's attitudes toward sexuality and sexual behavior. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the attitudes and behaviors of women in traditional and nontraditional college majors regarding sex and sexuality in order to determine if differences exist by major.

Some of the majors are traditional areas of study for women (e.g. nursing or education). Other majors (e.g. math and women’s studies) are either a more recent area of study in the United States or a field that has been heavily unrepresented by women in the past century. This is why they are deemed more nontraditional majors for women.

Review of Literature

Nursing and education have been traditional disciplines for American women entering college throughout the past century. Jacobs (1986) suggested that language, literature, and nursing are among the fields in which women predominate, and in 1970 over one-third of women bachelor's degree recipients received their degrees in the discipline of education. This trend of women toward teaching as a profession remained relatively steady into the 1980's when approximately 20% of women gradated with an undergraduate degree in education.

Blakemore and Low (1984) identified reasons why women are traditionally entering into the disciplines of nursing and education. A primary reason was the length of time women planned to be out of the workforce in order to have a family. Teaching and nursing are two careers that allow women to spend time out of the workforce in order to stay home with their children without completely giving up their careers. This career pattern illustrates a traditional value, the family role of caregiver for women. Unlike men who tend to put their careers first, women who want to marry and rear their children have traditionally looked for a noncontinuous career. According to Pavalko (1970), in order to be a house-maker in later life women choose their major in school with this future role in mind. Thus, careers that are considered traditional for women are sought most by women who want a traditional marriage and family life.

Most recently, Bradley (2000) did an extensive cross national study on sex segregation in higher education. He found that gender segregation has declined little since 1965. Women are still most likely to graduate with a degree in education, the social sciences, and law. The gender segregation of attending college is changing, with women attending college nearly as often as men. Yet, there are still vast differences in what degree women obtain and the occupation they hold after graduation. There is not just a degree or job differentiation, but also an income difference between the genders. Teaching is still a female occupied profession. Teachers make far less than a college professor, which is an education position that more men than women hold. Nurses also make far less than doctors, which is a part of the medical field that more men than women occupy. Occupation segregation maybe the reason why women continue to make far less income per year than men.

Non-traditional Majors for Women

Other women have different career and family aspirations and this results in different educational choices. A major that has been considered particularly innovative in the past thirty years is Women's Studies. Women's Studies has been considered the academic arm of the Feminist Movement. The Feminist Movement emphasizes that nontraditional career paths for women can be a valid option. The development of women's studies as an academic program has much to do with the Feminist Movements’ organized agenda to challenge women’s traditional views that there are gender specific parts of academia. Westkott and Victoria (1991) offers an additional reason why Women's Studies programs are viewed as non-traditional is due to the several influences that are within the program. There is the influence of literature, history, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines all contribute to a feminists lens in order to meet the requirements of the interdisciplinary field of women’s studies. Thus the very program itself challenges the male-centered single disciplinary perspective.

Non-traditional Male Dominated Majors

Women are still largely choosing traditional women's majors such as nursing and education instead of the male dominated majors such as math, engineering, and the hard sciences: chemistry, biology, and physics. According to Jacobs (1986) women seeking a B.A. in mathematics are relatively scarce though the numbers are increasing marginally each year. One reason so few women enter this major is the reported discrimination of women in the mathematics field. Gray (1972) found that nearly half of freshman math classes are filled with women, yet only six percent of Ph. D's in mathematics are awarded to women. "Also no Sloan fellowship has ever gone to a woman in pure mathematics. There are currently seventy fellowships awarded each year and the fellowship program is twenty years old." Women who choose male-dominated fields such as math are still a minority.

Bradley (2000) found that men are still over represented in the hard sciences, math, and engineering. This disproportion does not match the trend that shows women attending college at an increasing rate. Those women who are achieving success in higher education are not doing so in the area of mathematics, unless they are receiving a degree in education at the same time. Women who choose non-traditional majors may not be as preoccupied with a future family and child-rearing while in college. Instead they maybe intent on building a career in fields still dominated by men, and this is a question my research will investigate.

Attitudes toward Sexual Behaviors

Sexual behaviors and attitudes are learned through a person’s environment and are socially constructed in society though family, friends, school, as well as other things. In American schools there are two sides to the sector of sex education. The traditional view, which supports abstinence only programming, and the nontraditional view, which supports an all inclusive sexual education program. Donovan (1998) explains that the traditional abstinence only programming has been gaining momentum in the past few years. Parent's of abstinence only groups are well organized and explaining their position to school boards, as well as demanding that their programming is implemented at their children’s' schools. Abstinence only programs have been shown to not give the knowledge needed by those who plan on not abstaining from sex. Adolescence that have been exposed to only abstinence only programming and decide to have sex, are more likely to not use protection and are at greater risk for spreading STD's and having an unplanned pregnancy. This is due to their lack of sexual education knowledge outside the realm of traditional abstinence only programming.

A question that has been researched and discussed over the past decade is what is sex and what is abstinence. While traditionally, sex has been described as vaginal penal intercourse between a man and a women and abstinence as the absence of that act. Due to the growing amount of adolescence participating in other sexual activities, the traditional definitions of sexual intercourse and abstinence have been reexamined. Remez (2000) goes onto say that policy makers and parents are not paying enough attention to the sexual activities that are happening outside the realm of sexual intercourse. Mutual masturbation, anal sex, and oral sex may not lead to pregnancy, but there is still a risk of contracting an STD. These sexual activities are not traditional sexual intercourse, and due to this these activities are not given as much serious thought on how to persuade adolescence to abstain from them. Another topic Remez inquired about was how teenagers that had been educated with abstinence only education defined abstinence. Abstinence only education is a traditional aspect of teaching appropriate sexual attitudes and behaviors, but when asked, there was no definite definition of abstinence given by the students. The respondents’ definitions ranged from a lifestyle that just allows kissing to anything but intercourse and everything in between. The traditional definition of abstinence had been lost, even among those who were taught abstinence only education.

Virginity pledges are another example of traditional sexual attitudes and behaviors in the United States. Bearman and Bruckner (2001) found that since 1993, over 2.5 million adolescents have publicly pledged their virginity. The pledges promised to abstain from sexual intercourse until they were married. Much of this movement has been sponsored by the Southern Baptist Church. Bearman and Bruckner studied the effects of the virginity pledges and whether the pledges followed through with their promise to remain virgins until marriage. They found that of the adolescents that took the pledge and did not remain virgins, were more likely to not use protection during sex. They were also more likely than non-pledges to have an unplanned pregnancy and contract a sexually transmitted disease. This indicates that those who have traditional sexual attitudes may not have the same traditional sexual behaviors. This lack of consistency aids in their lack knowledge of sexual health.

Bay-Cheng and Zucker (2007) surveyed women’s attitudes toward erotic behavior, such as group sex, found that women who considered themselves to be non-feminist, or traditional, expressed support for the sexual double standard including biological and attitudinal sex differences between men and women. For example, participants stated that it is more acceptable for a man to have more than one sexual partner at a time, but women should have only one sexual partner at a time. Non-feminists reported lower percentages of condom usage with each sexual encounter and were also significantly less likely to express favorable attitudes toward erotophilia, which is "ones positive, affective, and evaluative responses to sexual cues.”

Waite and Lehrer (2003) claim that religion and the institution of marriage also contribute to a traditional view of sexuality. They found that participation and belief in a traditional religion shaped respondents' positive attitudes toward marriage and sex within marriage and negative attitudes toward unmarried and extramarital sex. The first sexual encounter for those who held traditional religious beliefs were at later ages and usually within a committed or married relationship.

By contrast, Bay-Cheng and Zucker (2007) found that feminist attitudes or non-traditional attitudes toward sex and sexual behaviors were also non-traditional. They found that women who identified as feminist were more positive in their responses toward diverse and non-traditional sexual stimuli and participants did not agree with the sexual double standard. It was also found that feminists are more likely to reject heteronormativity and the accompanying gender roles within it in regards to their sexual attitudes and behaviors. This also included acceptance and participation in same-sex sexual activity and a positive attitude toward group sexual activities.

Women's Colleges

Smith (1990) stated that up until the 1960s, there were 200 women's colleges in the United States. After the merging of colleges in the 1960s and 1970s many women's colleges became coeducational or closed down. Today there are 68 women's colleges still open in the United States, and of those 28 colleges are Roman Catholic.

Research has been done on what are the benefits of attending a women's college and Smith (1990) found that women who attend women's college were more satisfied with their college experience, more aggressive in the work place, and more likely to attend graduate school than their coeducational counterparts.

A similar study was done by Riordan (1994) in which he researched the value of attending a women's college based on education received, occupation after graduation, and the income benefits received by the women’s jobs. He found that women at coeducational institutions were more likely to experience depressed cognitive development, the women's college participants were not. Also the women's college participants had higher educational and career oriented aspirations than the coeducational women respondents. Much of this may have been due to the unequal treatment that women at coeducational colleges stated that they experienced. Participants at women's colleges did not respond feeling this way while in the classroom. The research indicates that women's colleges are valued and deliver a specific educational experience for women that could not be received at a coeducational school. This being said, women who go to women's college will have already had a specific college experience that will affect their attitudes and views of themselves as well as the world.

Theory

Loseke (2003) explains that perspectives that are socially constructed are subjective. The perspective maybe a problem, which is what Loseke's theory is most concerned with, but it would also apply to attitudes. Attitudes and beliefs can also be socially constructed and are therefore subjective in nature. Different groups are going to attach different meanings and attitudes toward different issues. What one group may construct as a social problem, another group may not. As with social problems, socially constructed attitudes may only be defined as a general attitude or belief if enough people within that group make a claim, otherwise known as claims-making.

Loseke (2003, p.6) goes onto ask what a social problem is. The first definition is that it is something that is wrong that a social group generally accepts. The second part of the definition is that the problem must be widespread. The third aspect of the definition is that it can be changed. Lastly, the problem is subjective to what group is describing the problem. When you replace problem with attitude or belief the general consensus of the theory remain the same. A socially contrasted attitude is something that a social group accepts, the attitude is widespread amongst the group, the attitude may change throughout time, and the attitude or belief is subjective because it has been socially constructed by the group.

This aspect of Loseke’s theory can describe the generally conservative attitudes of the traditional majors and the generally liberal attitudes of the nontraditional majors. Bay-Cheng and Zucker (2007) found that feminist attitudes or nontraditional attitudes toward sex and sexual behaviors were also non-traditional. Those in the socially constructed group known as feminists have a socially constructed nontraditional and liberal attitude toward sexuality and do not agree with the conservative sexual double standard.

Loseke (2003, p.7) also theorizes that social problems are objective conditions. In other words the social problem is tangible.

"Objective" means real, tangible, and measurable. Within this objectivist

perspective, social problems are about things that we can see; they are about

measurable and widespread conditions in the environment and the living

breathing people that are affected by these conditions." (p. 7)

The social group can see the problem in their daily lives. When applying this theory to sexual attitudes, the tangible or objective condition would be the sexual behaviors that the group is acting out because of their attitudes toward sexuality. This is shown in regards to Bearman and Bruckner's (2001) research which found that since 1993, over 2.5 million adolescents have publicly pledged their virginity. Most of these virginity pledges have been made by those adolescents that associate with the conservative religious sect known as the Southern Baptists. The conservative attitudes of the Southern Baptists can be seen as an objective condition through their youths' pledges of saving their virginity until they are married. The promise to not have premarital sex is something that the group can see and reflects back to their attitudes and beliefs about sexuality.

Loseke (2007, pp.25-27) also states that social constructive perspectives on social problems begin with the belief that people create meaning because meaning is not inherent in objects. Claims-makers are needed in order to bring meaning to the social problem or in our case, social attitude or belief. The social problem or attitude and belief, cannot be made valid just by the claims-maker. The audience or those within the social group must believe the claim about the social problem to be true. In consistence with this paper's view of the theory, the attitude or belief must be shared by the social group, not just the claims-maker. Without the audience, the claims-maker's claim has no merit.

Another aspect that must be considered is how the claims-makers make their claims. Loseke says that a claim is any verbal, visual, or behavioral statement. The verbal aspect of claims-making can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the audience or social group the claims-maker wants to persuade. The claim can be made through a speech, a radio broadcast, or a book. Whatever avenue that the claims-maker expects the audience to listen or relate to is the avenue that they will take. Next, is claims made through visual images. An example would be posters that both pro-choice and pro-life advocates hold as they march or protest. These images are powerful because the claims-makers are putting a visual image right into the audiences' heads. Lastly, there are behavioral claims. This involves the claims-makers doing something to impact the audience. An example of this may be a feminist group giving out condoms to college students, along with pamphlets on how to protect oneself against pregnancy and STD's. The audience will either agree or disagree that the belief and attitude that non abstinence only sex education is needed for young adults and adolescents.

Loseke social construction theory for social problems can be applied to attitudes and beliefs because both are constructed by groups in society. In order for attitudes and beliefs to be representative of a social group, claims-makers are need to give verbal, visual, and behavioral claims to the attitude or belief in order for the audience to decide whether or not that particular attitude or belief is one that describes them as a social group. This can be applied to any social group, including traditional and nontraditional groups of college majors for women.

Methods

Participants

Eighty-five students from Saint Mary's College, a Catholic all women college, ages 18-22, participated in this study. The students were recruited from the student population of nursing majors N = 40, education majors N = 9, math majors N = 15, women's studies majors N = 1. One weakness of this study was few students are self-designed women's studies majors. Of the 85 participants, only 65 completed all of the questions on the survey.

Procedure and Materials

The participants in this study were chosen to be included based upon their major. Each participant was e-mailed a link to the Sexual Attitudes Survey by the chair of their department; the survey was available electronically on Surveymonkey (See Appendix A). Before beginning the survey, the participants read the informed consent on the first page of the link. If the participant agreed to the informed consent, by clicking "yes," she could then respond to the survey. The participants were also required to select their major department in order to continue with the survey. The survey took an average of 40 minutes to complete.

Strengths and Weaknesses

A strength of this study was the Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors survey. It had a variety of questions that covered attitudes and behaviors evenly. An additional strength was that there were a large number of respondents. Lastly, the short answer question gave respondents the opportunity to give a rich and detailed response of how they defined their most impactful sexual experience.

There were several aspects of the study that should be redone if attempted again. One being that the women's studies major had to be combined with the math majors due to there only being one women's studies respondent. The confidentiality of the Women's Studies respondent was at risk if kept in its own category. In the future women's studies minors would also be asked to participate, in order to gain more even numbers of respondents throughout each discipline. There were also not enough education major respondents. In the future it should be made sure that there were at least 25 respondents from each major. This would make the respondents more evenly divided, that is something this study was not able to do. Lastly, another weakness was the lack of time. A greater amount of time to finish the study would have led to a more evenly distributed data set.

Findings

The surveys showed that the respondents of each of the four majors had differing views on sexuality and sexual behaviors. The questions analyzed were divided into separate categories. The first was attitudes and behaviors toward premarital sexual intercourse. The second was attitudes toward sexual education and different methods of birth control. The third was sexual behaviors other than sexual intercourse. The last category was in regards to attitudes about the practice of abortion.

The tables below show the data separated by sexual attitudes and sexual behaviors.

|Table 1: Sexual Behaviors by Major |

|Behaviors |Traditional |Majors |Nontraditional Major |

| |Nursing |Education |Math |

|Virgin |59% (23) |67% (6) |68.75% (11) |

|Nonvirgin |41% (17) |33% (3) |31.25% (5) |

|Participate in Oral Sex |65% (26) |56% (5) |43.75% (7) |

|Do not participate in Oral Sex |35% (14) |44% (4) |56.25% (9) |

|Participate in Anal Sex |12.5% (5) |12% (2) |6.25% (1) |

|Do not Participate in Anal Sex |87.5% (35) |88% (7) |93.75% (15) |

|View Pornography |80% (32) |67% (6) |50% (8) |

|Do not View Pornography |20% (8) |33% (3) |50% (8) |

|Masturbates |22.5% (9) |44% (4) |68.75% (11) |

| | | | |

|Does not Masturbate |77.5% (31) |56% (5) |31.25% (5) |

The table above shows the sexual behaviors of traditional and nontraditional majors. There are several aspects to the data that are interesting. The traditional majors group had a higher number of nonvirgins than the nontraditional major. Previous research implied the opposite. The nontraditional majors also had a smaller percentage participating in oral and anal sex than the traditional majors. Another observation made through the data was that non-traditional majors were less likely to view pornography on a regular basis but more likely to masturbate on a regular basis than their traditional major counterparts.

|Table 2: Sexual Attitudes by Major |

|Attitudes |Traditional |Majors |Nontraditional Major |

| |Nursing |Education |Math |

|Agrees with Premarital Sex |50% (20) |56% (5) |68.75% (11) |

|Does not Agree with |32.5% (13) |44% (4) |12.5% (2) |

|Premarital Sex | | | |

|Other |17.5% (7) |(0) |18.75% (3) |

|Yes to Sex Education in |90% (36) |78% (7) |75% (12) |

|Schools | | | |

|No to Sex Education in |10% (4) |22% (2) |6.25% (1) |

|Schools | | | |

|Other |(0) |(0) |18.75% (3) |

|Yes to Artificial Birth |75% (30) |78% (7) |75% (12) |

|control | | | |

|No to Artificial Birth |17.5% (7) |22% (2) |6.25% (1) |

|control | | | |

|Other |7.5% (3) |(0) |18.75% (3) |

|Agrees with Practice of |25% (10) |44% (4) |68.75% (11) |

|Abortion | | | |

|Does not Agree with the |75% (30) |56% (5) |31.25% (5) |

|Practice of Abortion | | | |

The table above shows the sexual attitudes of traditional and nontraditional majors surveyed at a Women's College. The table shows that traditional majors were less likely to agree with the practice of premarital sex than the nontraditional majors. This is inconsistent with the first table showing sexual behaviors, where the traditional majors had a greater percentage of nonvirgins. The nursing major also had the largest amount respond as other in regards to the question on premarital sex. Both nontraditional and traditional majors attitudes toward artificial birth control are about the same, though the nontraditional majors had the highest percentage of respondents answer other to the survey question. When asked whether the respondents believed that sex education, other than abstinence only education should be in schools, the traditional majors had a higher percentage of respondents answer yes. The nursing majors had the highest percentage, with 90% answering yes. The respondents were also questioned about the practice of abortion. The traditional majors were more likely to disagree with the practice than their nontraditional counterparts, though the nursing majors were more likely to disagree with the practice of abortion than the education major respondents.

Significant Sexual Experience

The survey contained one short answer question asking the participants to describe the sexual experience that most impacted them. Although there were a variety of answers with varying degrees of explicitness a common theme was that nontraditional majors had a more open view of what constituted a sexual experience. By contrast, respondents in traditional majors described concrete experiences, For example, a traditional major stated,

"I think that losing my virginity impacted me the most to this date because it was with my boyfriend (who I am still with), so it meant a lot to me. Every time we have sex it is special, but the first time impacted me the most."

The nontraditional majors described activities less explicitly sexual in behaviors such as their first kiss or the first time their significant other told them how they found them to be sexually attractive. They did not view a sexual experience as just an act of sex; it was a behavior more about meaning than action.

"Everyone has different personalities when they have sex. Sometimes they are mad, sad, happy, or just complacent. It’s a lot like the way we act around people. It all depends on the mood. My long term boyfriend and I hadn't seen each other for a long time. So when I returned home, he surprised me by taking me to a nice romantic dinner, instead of our normal takeout and a movie like we normally would. Instead, we went to dinner and then we sat in the bed of his truck and just watched the city go to bed and watch the night life wake up. 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."

These quotes are two examples of traditional and nontraditional majors’ interpretation of how they thought the question being asked applied to them and what the question meant when regarding the subject of sexual acts. The traditional major described the act of sex and losing her virginity, while the nontraditional major described the emotion behind the sexual act.

Discussion

The findings suggest that traditional and nontraditional majors at Saint Mary’s College have different attitudes towards sexuality and sexual behaviors. Since women who choose to pursue a nontraditional major for women have a broader understanding of sexuality, perhaps they already had unconventional attitudes about gender roles which extended to sexual behaviors and attitudes.

Women in nontraditional majors have challenged society’s gender stereotypes, thus they must also be open to challenging traditional behaviors in other aspects of life, such as sexuality or sexual behavior. The majority of traditional majors held traditional views in regard to sexual attitudes and behaviors. They condoned sexual behaviors more often than the nontraditional majors. Traditional values often stem from Judeo-Christian doctrine and people who stray from those teachings are deemed sinful.

Saint Mary's College represents two very different paths for women in 2008. What this study leaves open for the next project is whether they attitudes and beliefs exist prior to the selecting of the major, or whether the majors changes a student's beliefs. Further research could answer that question.

References

Bay-Cheng, Laina Y and Alyssa N. Zucker. 2007. "Feminism between the Sheets: Sexual Attitudes among Feminists, Nonfeminists, and Egalitarians." Psychology of Women

Quarterly, 31: 158-162.

Bearman, Peter S. and Bruckman, Hannah. 2001. "Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and

First Intercourse." The American Journal of Sociology, 106: 859-875.

Blakemore, Arthor E. and Stuart A. Low. 1984. "Sex Differences in Occupational

Selection: The Case of College Majors." The Review of Economics and Statistics, 66: 157-160.

Bradley, Karen. 2000. "The Incorporation of Women into Higher Education: Paradoxical

Outcomes." Sociology of Education, 73: 1-18.

Donovan, Patricia. 1998. "School-Based Sexuality Education: The Issues and Challenges."

Family Planning Perspectives, 30: 188-193.

Gray, Mary. 1972. "Women in Mathematics." The American Mathematical Monthly, 79:

475-476.

Jacobs, Jerry A. 1994. "The Sex-Segregation of Fields of Study: Trends during the College Years." The Journal of Higher Education, 57: 134-136.

Loseke, Donileen R. 2003. Thinking About Social Problems. New York, NY: Aldine De Gruyter.

Pavalko, Ronald M. 1970. "Recruitment to Teaching: Patterns of Selection and Retention." Sociology of Education, 43: 341-343.

Remez, Lisa. 2000. "Oral Sex Among Adolescents: Is It Sex or Is It Abstinence?" Family

Planning Perspectives, 32: 298-304.

Riordan, Cornelius. 1994. "The Value of Attending a Women's College: Education, Occupation,

and Income Benefits." The Journal of Higher Education, 4: 486-510

Smith, Daryl G. 1990. "Women's Colleges and Coed Colleges. Is there a Difference for

Women?" The Journal of Higher Education, 2: 181-197.

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Waite, Linda J. and Evelyn L. Lehrer. 2003. "The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis." Population and Development Review, 29: 260.

Westkott, Marcia and Gay Victoria. 1991. "Survey of Women's Studies Major." N W S A

Journal, 3: 430-431.

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Appendix

A.

Sex Attitudes and Behaviors Survey

Please only check one answer for the multiple choice questions.

1. What is your major/minor?

Education

Women's Studies

A Combination of both

2. What is your sexual orientation?

Heterosexual

Homosexual

Bisexual

If other please list.

3. Are you a virgin?

Yes

No

4. If you are not a virgin, state age you lost your virginity.

5. Do you agree with the practice of premarital sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

6. Did/Do your parent(s) or guardian(s) condone the practice of premarital sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

7. Do you agree with the use of sexual education in schools? (Not abstinence only programs.)

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

8. Do you agree with the use of artificial contraceptives? (Ex: condoms, the pill, the ring, the sponge, etc.)

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

9. How much trust do you put in the practice of Natural Family Planning?

1 is no trust.

5 is the greatest amount of trust.

Check one number.

1 2 3 4 5

10. If you are sexually active do you use protection 100% of the time against pregnancy and STDs?

Yes

No

Not sexually active.

11. Do you or have you engaged in oral sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

12. If yes have you performed oral sex on another person?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

13. If you said yes to question #11, have you had oral sex preformed on you?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

14. Do you consider oral sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

15. If you answered yes to question #11, how many people have you engaged in oral sex with?

16. Have you ever engaged in anal sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

17. If you answered yes to question #16, how many people have you engaged in anal sex with?

18. Do you consider anal sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

19. Do you masturbate?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

20. If you answered yes to question #19, how often do you masturbate?

Once a month.

A few times a month.

Once a week.

A few times a week.

Once a day.

Several times a day.

21. 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.

Check one number.

1 2 3 4 5

22. Do you agree with the statement that most college age women masturbate?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

23. Do you agree with the practice of viewing pornography?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

24. Have you ever viewed pornography?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

25. If you answered yes to question #24, do you regularly view pornography?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

26. If you answered yes to question #25 how often do you view pornography?

Once a month.

A few times a month.

Once a week.

A few times a week.

Once a day.

A few times a day.

Other. If other please explain.

27. If you answered yes to question #25, who do you view porn with?

I do not view pornography with anyone.

I view pornography with my significant other.

I view pornography with my friends.

Other. If other please explain.

28. Have you passionately kissed someone of the same sex?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

29. If you answered yes to question #28, please write a short response to how you felt about this experience.

30. If you answered yes to question #28, did that experience cause you to question your sexuality?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

31. Have you engaged in sexual activities with more than one person at the same time? (ex: threesomes, foursomes, etc.)

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

32. If you have had sex, how many sexual partners have you had?

33. If you have had sex, have you ever had a "one night stand"?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

34. If you answered yes to question #33, how many "one night stand" have you had?

35. How often do you have sexual fantasies during the day?

1 is never.

5 is all the time.

1 2 3 4 5

36. Do you think that the amount you fantasize about sex is normal?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

37. Do you believe in a woman's right to have an abortion?

Yes.

No

Other. If other please explain.

38. Have you ever had an abortion?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

39. Have you ever been tested for STD's?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

40. If you answered yes to question #39, did you ever test positive for an STD?

Yes

No

Other. If other please explain.

41. Please write a short paragraph about the sexual experience that impacted you the most to this date.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Your time and honesty is greatly appreciated.

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