1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In this dissertation, [the author] explore[s] the following facets of women’s experiences: […] Women’s negotiation of gender norms regarding normative dating and sexual behavior when they are with younger men; […] Women’s perceptions of (un)desirable traits in men and how that affects their partnering choices; […] The way women assess their own value as intimate partners and how that assessment affects their partnering choices; […] Women’s perception of the longevity potential of their age-hypogamous intimate relationships.» (p. 27)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«The overarching research question guiding this study is: How do women experience age-hypogamous intimate relationships in the heterosexual dating context?» (p. 7)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon est composé de 59 femmes de 30 à 60 ans qui fréquentent un homme plus jeune. Les participantes ont été rencontrées en 2015 dans la ville de Montréal.

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

The author «found that women engaged in age-hypogamous intimate relationships often reproduce rather conventional gendered expectations for female behavior and traditional assumptions about their value as intimate partners. Indeed, most women present themselves as having played a rather passive role in the relationship formation process, and many of them struggle with resisting the traditional conception of women’s worth as long-term partners as ultimately associated with their youthful physical appearance and their reproductive capacities/childrearing aptitudes. Nevertheless, they also challenge many aspects of the traditional, culture-level sexual script dictating women’s sexuality. Depicting themselves as sexually empowered women, their choice of younger partners is motivated in part because they want to have partners who appreciate highly desiring, sexually assertive women, and because they want to ensure that their sexual pleasure be attended to. Furthermore, through a comparison of women in their 30s, 40s and 50s, [the author] found some differences of experiences among women along the lines of age […].» (p. 7-8) Overall, this «dissertation contributes to the areas of sociology of gender, sociology of family, as well as sociology of sexuality.» (p. 194)