IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v20y2015i2p103-121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Gender in Portuguese Bedrooms: Men's and Women's Narratives of Their Sexuality through a Mixed Methods Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Violeta Alarcão
  • Ana Virgolino
  • Luis Roxo
  • Fernando L. Machado
  • Alain Giami

Abstract

The nature of intimacy and self-identity changed profoundly over the past century. The disruption between sex and procreation enabled the emergence of new forms of relationships and contributed towards the legitimacy of a sexuality focused on pleasure, as a mean of self-realization and an expression of intimacy. Despite the evidence that most individuals now approach close relations with expectations of mutual emotional support and romantic love, intimate relationships remain highly gendered, particularly in societies where traditional roles of men and women persist in the growing diversity of sexual relationships. To address this topic, an empirical research was conducted in the Greater Lisbon area using a mixed methods approach. First, a quantitative study, with 323 primary healthcare users, intended to explain how gender influences self-constructions of sexuality and intimacy. Then, a qualitative study, with a subsample of 10 heterosexual men and 15 heterosexual women, employed in-depth interviews to explore how individuals construct their etiquette of sexual behavior. Building upon Gagnon and Simon's scripting theory and Giddens’ transformations of intimacy, along with feminist criticisms concerning male dominance in hetero-relationships, we have reached an explanatory typology that focuses on Portuguese specificity in terms of the subjective experience of sexuality and intimate relationships. Sexuality and intimacy are complex and multifaceted phenomena that are affected by sexual and non-sexual factors, both in and out of the bedroom. Key findings reveal a coexistence of highly gendered sexual scripts with increasingly more egalitarian sexual roles, namely among the youngest and the most educated generations in Portuguese society.

Suggested Citation

  • Violeta Alarcão & Ana Virgolino & Luis Roxo & Fernando L. Machado & Alain Giami, 2015. "Exploring Gender in Portuguese Bedrooms: Men's and Women's Narratives of Their Sexuality through a Mixed Methods Approach," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 103-121, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:20:y:2015:i:2:p:103-121
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.3619
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.3619
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.3619?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacqui Gabb, 2011. "Family Lives and Relational Living: Taking Account of Otherness," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 141-150, December.
    2. Lynn Jamieson, 2011. "Intimacy as a Concept: Explaining Social Change in the Context of Globalisation or Another Form of Ethnocentricism?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 151-163, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ranjana Raghunathan, 2022. "Everyday Intimacies and Inter-Ethnic Relationships: Tracing Entanglements of Gender and Race in Multicultural Singapore," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 77-94, March.
    2. Rosanna Hertz, 2022. "Sociological Accounts of Donor Siblings’ Experiences: Their Importance for Self-Identity and New Kinship Relations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Puxiang Ren & Jakob Emiliussen & Regina Christiansen & Søren Engelsen & Søren Harnow Klausen, 2022. "Filial Piety, Generativity and Older Adults’ Wellbeing and Loneliness in Denmark and China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3069-3090, October.
    4. Kristen E Cheney, 2022. "Discordant Expectations of Global Intimacy: Desire and Inequality in Commercial Surrogacy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 43-59, March.
    5. Nora KOTTMANN & Laura DALES, 2023. "Doing Intimacy in Pandemic Times: Findings of a Large-Scale Survey Among Singles in Japan," Social Science Japan Journal, University of Tokyo and Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 3-26.
    6. Maree Martinussen, 2019. "Reason, Season, or Life? Heterorelationality and the Limits of Intimacy between Women Friends," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 24(3), pages 297-313, September.
    7. Mohammed Abdel Karim Al Hourani, 2024. "Gendered Interaction and Practices of Intimacy Among Emirati Young Spouses: Exploring the Experiences of Wives," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 41-61, March.
    8. Shuang Qiu, 2020. "Chinese ‘Study Mothers’ in Living Apart Together (LAT) Relationships: Educational Migration, Family Practices, and Gender Roles," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(3), pages 405-420, September.
    9. Punita Chowbey, 2017. "What is Food Without Love? The Micro-politics of Food Practices Among South Asians in Britain, India, and Pakistan," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(3), pages 165-185, September.
    10. Komal Niazi & Muhammad Shoaib & Song Qiulian, 2020. "Micro Impacts of a Macro‐Level Trading Partnership: Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 301-322, January.
    11. Kalliopi Kydonaki & Susanne Kean & Jennifer Tocher, 2020. "Family INvolvement in inTensive care: A qualitative exploration of critically ill patients, their families and critical care nurses (INpuT study)," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(7-8), pages 1115-1128, April.
    12. Kong, Shaojun & Guo, Jia & Huang, Dan, 2022. "The girlfriend getaway as an intimacy," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Shruti Chaudhry, 2022. "Mid- and Later Life Cross-Sex Friendships in Minority Ethnic Contexts: Insights From Scotland," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 947-963, December.
    14. Petra Lemberger & Tony Waters, 2022. "Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    15. Georgia Philip, 2013. "‘Extending the Analytical Lens’[1]: A Consideration of the Concepts of ‘Care’ and ‘Intimacy’ in Relation to Fathering after Separation or Divorce," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 18(1), pages 97-107, February.
    16. Sui-Ting Kong & Petula Sik-Ying Ho & Stevi Jackson, 2021. "Doing being observed: Experimenting with collaborative focus group analysis in post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 26(3), pages 485-504, September.
    17. Verónica Policarpo, 2015. "What Is a Friend? An Exploratory Typology of the Meanings of Friendship," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, February.
    18. Eleanor Formby, 2022. "LGBT ‘Communities’ and the (Self-)regulation and Shaping of Intimacy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 8-26, March.
    19. Linda L. Layne, 2015. "A Changing Landscape of Intimacy: The Case of a Single Mother by Choice," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(4), pages 156-171, November.
    20. Heikki Heikkilä, 2020. "Beyond Moral Coupling: Analysing Politics of Privacy in the Era of Surveillance," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 248-257.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:20:y:2015:i:2:p:103-121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.