The changing image of masculinity is an important area of study, and I would like to see and personally undertake more research on it. In future studies I would like to see focus groups done with non-students. A comparative study, done with the same questionnaire and the same focus group questions, but with young men who are not enrolled in college, might yield different results. It is also a possibility that such a study might yield similar results, in which case a more confident statement of representation could be made. When I presented this research at a
conference, one member of the audience suggested doing focus groups at his Army reserve base because of the plethora of young men with free time and the desire to talk about sex. I think his idea is a good example of searching out groups of young men, and specifically groups with a shared interest or quality, for future research. Other possible groups would be incarcerated men and single fathers.
Similarly, it would be interesting to ask the same questions of young women, both students and non-students. The young men in this study appeared to believe that women talk about sex differently than men do, as evidenced by their different choices when talking to men and to women. It would be fascinating to compare their conjecture with data from young women who are asked the same questions. Additionally, if the answers from the young men were against stereotype, perhaps the answers from the young women would be as well. Where the young men wished for more emotional connection, perhaps we might find that the young women wish for less. It is also possible that young women also wish for more emotion in their sex lives, and there is simply a lack of communication regarding emotion. The participants repeatedly shared their belief that women talk about sex more than men, and I would be interested to see whether women think the same.
Another factor that could be examined in future research is the age of the participants. I used college-aged men, but I would be interested to see how answers might change with both younger and older men. Do fathers talk about sex differently than childless men? Do married men differ from divorced men in their use of slang? In this study I had a few virgins, but
virginity is not so unusual at this age – what would be different if I recruited adult men who were involuntarily celibate? It was also interesting to me that the men in my study suggested that younger men are more prone to using slang. I would like to test that by asking these questions to
young men in middle school or high school, to see if their word usage is dramatically different form that of the college men.
Finally, I would like to conduct similar research in a different part of the country. Many of the participants were raised in Christian environments, which is very common in the area in which the study was conducted. For instance, the men who had retained their virginity noted that they did so for religious reasons. Others noted that they initially intended to remain virgins until marriage, also for religious reasons, but had since become sexually active. Perhaps young men raised in a different religion or with no religion might have different feelings regarding sex before marriage or sexuality in general.
In summation, more work remains to be done. Although I am prepared to make the claim that the participants in this study rejected hegemonic masculinity, their rejection does not
indicate that all men do the same. Further studies regarding language use, especially studies done with a wide variety of male subjects, could shed light on the changing face of masculinity in America. An increased understanding of the weight under which men are living, in regards to pressure to perform masculinity, may lead to solutions to issues like sexual assault,
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