Changes in college women's attitudes toward sexual intimacy

Inspired by the work of Tolman and others, this longitudinal qualitative study was designed to explore how women feel about sexual intimacy in the first year of college and how these feelings change over time. In-depth interviews with 14 young women were conducted over a period of 2 years. Findings suggest that the valence of sexual intimacy shifts by the end of women's sophomore year, but this shift in valence is not necessarily accompanied by a stronger sense of sexual agency, given that terms of the sexual and relational landscape to which women must adjust seem to primarily benefit cultural constructions of masculinity.