Going Through Changes

The Evolving Gender Roles of College Students

Gender, sex, and sexuality as social identity categories are going through a paradigmatic makeover. Join us as Dr. Gonzalez discusses what she considers to be the core of this transformation: a collective re-examination of gender roles, which are the rules, expectations and norms that are embedded in the narratives of who we are as gendered beings.

The gendered “story” we are told and continue to tell ourselves informs our understanding of how we dress and act, how we are sexed and who we have sex with. In other words, gender socialization has an identity domino effect in that it triggers other social identities. Young adults of college age are rejecting the status quo paradigms of gender, sex, and sexuality by building a new lexicon of identities. Institutions of higher education prove to be rather slow in adapting to these changes, which results in macro and micro culture clashes.

The lecture will address the “Going Through Changes” display in McKillop Library, which features the thoughts, feelings, and expressions of Salve students about gender, gender roles and expectations. The intention of this initiative is to promote growth and change in academic institutions and promote understandings of binary gender roles as restrictive social constructions.

Dr. Victoria Gonzalez is a new member of the Cultural, Environmental and Global Studies Department. She is a sociologist and received her PhD in Sociology from Rutgers University.