Once upon a time, college girls perceived as too sexually active suffered from damaged reputations among their peers, while their male counterparts gained status for their sexual exploits.
This promiscuity double-standard no longer exists in the minds of many college students, according to new research presented at the American Sociological Association.
Nearly half of college students judge men and women with similar sexual histories by the same standard and hold equally negative attitudes toward both their male and female peers who they believe hook up "too much," according to the study from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Sociology.
"While we've come a long way in terms of gender equality, it seems that a large portion of both college men and women lose respect for individuals who they believe participate in too frequent casual sexual activity," said Rachel Allison, co-author of the study and a doctoral candidate, in a release about the results.
Women were more likely to judge each gender equally negatively for promiscuity, with approximately 54 per cent of the study's college females and more than 35 per cent of college males falling in this egalitarian-yet-judgmental category.
Only six per cent of women reported having those dated beliefs, compared with nearly 25 per cent of men.
Perhaps less surprisingly, male athletes and fraternity-affiliated men were much more likely than men who were neither involved in campus athletics nor engaged in fraternity life to hold on to the traditional double standard.
