Award Date

5-1-2020

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Committee Member

Jennifer Guthrie

Second Committee Member

Tara G. McManus

Third Committee Member

Tara Emmers-Sommer

Fourth Committee Member

Emily Troshynski

Number of Pages

84

Abstract

Dating to find a lifelong partner is a priority for many young adults, as the process exists on a socially constructed timeline (Baxter & Braithwaite, 2002). Although, like many other experiences in the public sphere, single women are adversely constrained by societal expectations in regard to their sexuality and use of agency (Dunn & Vik, 2014). This study explores women’s dating behaviors in cooperation with societal messages that are navigated as a necessary step in finding a romantic partner. With the framework of Relational Dialectics, the study examines how participants learn the rules of dating, in what ways dating behavior is impacted by the recognition (implicit or explicit) of the dialectical tensions present in dating discourses, and how women navigate these tensions through the potential found in the expansion of their narrative. By examining women’s accounts of how they navigate dominant dating discourses, the research study illuminates what tensions women experience when dating and how they resist those discursive tensions to create a more equitable and safe dating process for women.

Keywords

Dating behaviors; Agency; Societal messages; Relational Dialectics; Rules of dating

Disciplines

Communication

File Format

pdf

File Size

.863 MB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Communication Commons

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