Contexts

sociology for the public

Sexuality and inequality research

Are google searches different in states with more Trump supporters? A look at searches about gender, race, and sexuality

by Elizabeth Balzac, Paula England, and and Andrew Levine
Image by chayka1270 (Source: Pixabay) You can tell something about a person—or a state—by their Google searches. This is … Read More

Does Masturbation Teach Women to Orgasm in Partnered Sex? (Maybe, but It’s Not Clear)

by Paula England, Sophie Saydah, and Andrew Levine
In 1994, while attending a United Nations conference on AIDS, U.S. Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders was asked her opinion on promoting masturbation to discourage youth … Read More

Sexual Behavior and Attitudes among White, Black, Latinx, and Asian College Students

by Emma Patton, Paula England, and Andrew Levine
In her 2017 book American Hookup, Lisa Wade says, based on what some students of color told her, that “in some ways, hookup culture is … Read More

After Experiences of Unwanted Sex, Queer Women See Men as “Stupid”

by Elena Riecke, Jessie Ford, and Paula England
Queer college women experience some of the highest rates of unwanted sex but remain some of the most overlooked in research. Here, we examine self-identified … Read More

Which College Students Are More Permissive about Sex? Differences by Social Class Background and Educational Aspirations

by Sammy Wu, Emma Mishel, and Paula England
According to a recent study of college students by Elizabeth A. Armstrong and colleagues, some young women from working class backgrounds see their affluent … Read More

Do Immigrants Have More Conservative Sexual Attitudes Than Other College Students?

by Sammy Wu, Emma Mishel, Paula England, and Kristine Wang
Sociologists have long been interested in immigrant assimilation. They have usually focused on how well immigrants are able to learn English, earn educational degrees, find … Read More

What is the Sexual Life Cycle of Those Who Ever Have a Same-Sex Partner?

by Emma Mishel and Paula England
A growing proportion of Americans have had a same-sex sex partner at some point during their life, especially among women (as we show here … Read More

Google searches show more worry over gay men and boys than over gay women and girls

by Emma Mishel and Mónica L. Caudillo
A 2014 New York Times story called “Google, Tell me. Is My Son a Genius?” reported that people ask Google whether their sons are … Read More

social pressure to appear masculine leads straight men to have unwanted sex

by Michelle J. Cera, Jessie Ford, and and Paula England
Heterosexual men’s experiences of unwanted sex are often overlooked. We tend to see sexual assault perpetrators as male and victims as female—and usually that is … Read More

what does studying college sex tell us about immigrant assimilation?

by Kristine Wang, Jessie Ford, and and Paula England
To study immigrants’ experiences in American society, researchers often compare first- or second-generation immigrants to those whose families have been in the US for a … Read More

About Contexts

Contexts is a quarterly magazine that makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers. We're the public face of sociology.

It is a publication of the American Sociological Association, edited by Amin Ghaziani and Seth Abrutyn (University of British Columbia), with Letta Page.