Exploring the Coordinated Management of Meaning of Sex: The Social Construction of Male College Student Logical Forces

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative research study examined male college students’ narratives describing memorable sexual experiences, and how those encounters inform current sexual practices. Drawing from a larger collaborative research project, this study explores the narratives of 130 men who were attending college at one of three diverse US campuses in 2012. Utilizing a coordinateed management of meaning theoretical frame we examine how sexual experiences are informed by logical forces of looped narratives that exhibit both charmed and strange loops. Findings demonstrate how men’s management of meaning regarding their sexual experiences is informed by larger expectations steeped in rigid masculine values, a major force in socially constructing sexuality.