Term Paper on "Older Woman Younger Man Relationships"

Quoted Instructions for "Older Woman Younger Man Relationships" Assignment:

a review of five curent (1995 -2007) peer-review journal articles. Below is my topic, hypotheses and research questions.

Please use these sources

*****t Saltzman Chafetz (2004) Gendered power and Privilege: Taking Lenski one Step Further in Sociological Theory Vol. 22 issue 2, pages 269-277

Nichole Proulx, Sandra L. Caron, and Mary Ellin Logue (2006) Older Women younger men: a look at the implications of age difference in marriage in Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy Vol. 5 issue 4

Zak A., Armer, E. Edmunds, K., Fleury, T., Sarris, M., & Shatynski, B. (2001) Age-discrepant relationships: Do these romance fare well? In North American Journal of Psychology, Vol.3 issue 1 page 119

Monica Boyd and Anne Li (2003) May-December: Canadians in age-discrepant relationships. In Canadian social trend statistics Canada catalogue #11-008

Jacqueline Darroch, ***** Landry and Selene Oslak (1999) Age differences between sexual partners in the United States in family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 31, No.4 p. 160-167.

***** Knox and Tim Britton (1997). Age Discrepant relationships reported by university faculty and their students. In College student Journal, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p.280

There was a time when society deemed it in bad taste or even taboo for women to bridge the age gap by dating a younger man, but so-called May-December romances are inevitably on the rise. Some believe that it is the age gap itself that will hinder the relationship, but this learner tends to believe that if the couple has enough in common and possesses more than just a *****lust***** for each other, any older woman-younger man relationship really can thrive and develop into something mutual, lasting, and beneficial.

Lenski (1984), in his theory of socio-cultural evolution, described five different types of societies that were separated by their technologies. They were the hunting-and-gathering societies, the horticultural and pastoral societies, the agrarian societies, the industrial societies, and the post-industrial societies. Advancements in technology translated into changes in the economic, social, and political system. As a society moved from a hunting-and-gathering society, in which there was equality between the sexes, to a horticultural society, the beginning of the devaluation of women*****s work became apparent. During the agrarian stage, there was the largest amount of sex inequality due to the unequal physical distribution of work; men did heavy, manual labor, while women did housekeeping and child care. Simultaneously, the ideology developed that women were innately more suitable for less physical, more nurturing jobs, while men were inherently more competent at brawny corporeal work. During the industrial stage, women began to examine their disadvantaged position and began fighting for their rights. In the post industrial stage, women began to gain more power and have more equal social and economic status with men.

The economy of pre-industrial America was primarily based on family economies; the individual household was the fundamental unit of economic production. Within this unit, most of the necessities of life were produced by members of the family. These family economies were, by and large, subsistence economies. In this environment, there was no place for individuals living outside of a family. If someone lived individually, he or she was regarded as a criminal or beggar or worse. For both men and women, then, there really was no alternative, socially or economically, to living within a family.

Women began to function as productive laborers within this family economy at the age of six or seven and in some cases, earlier. In agricultural communities, this usually meant light farm labor, and in an artisan's family, this meant taking part in the business itself. Women in artisan families were very often trained in the skills of the family; as they grew up, they became more vital and important to the functioning of the business. On the farm, however, women's field labor was considerably less valued.

In general, women's lives were ***** around the economy of the household rather than relationships within the family. Both the marriage and the children took second place to production within the family economy; this was absolutely vital, for in a bad year, the family economy could mean starvation.

Many theories of sex stratification hypothesize the same relationship between resources and sex inequality as the more general theories of stratification discussed previously: increased access to resources by women diminishes inequality and male domination. Perhaps the best developed of such resource theories is Collins' conflict theory of sex stratification. Collins postulates that differences in strength and sexual aggression initially give men an advantage over women resulting in male domination. Changes in social organization and technology would create changes in the relative importance of other types of resources and, therefore, the importance of strength and aggression would diminish. In advanced market societies, as Collins characterizes contemporary Western industrial nations, education, employment opportunities, and financial resources became important determinants of position. Women's bargaining power would rise as their access to these resources increased (Huber, 2004).

Other theories of sex stratification imply a more complex relationship between resources and inequality, stressing the importance of institutionalized patriarchal norms and structures (Firestone, 2003), or the historically specific material conditions for women's inequality residing in their special relationship to production (Rowbotham, 1992). Both of these positions recognize women's continuing subordination despite changes in social structure and differences in class position. If control of resources unilaterally provides access to power (for women as well as everyone else), then there should be little differentiation by sex in the source, distribution, form, and use of great wealth. On the other hand, if sex is an overriding attribute; if patriarchal norms and structures take precedence; or if other aspects of women's class position prevail, then women should show significantly different patterns on these factors than men. In that situation, one would expect women's position among the wealthy to differ from men's and their ability to utilize great wealth and resources to be limited.

The changing economic, political, and social status of women also changed the scenario of sex relations. Traditionally, men dominated these relationships, and the choices within the relationships have most often been men*****s. Today, more women are acquiring s dominant economic, political, and social status. Concomitantly, there is a change in attitudes about age-appropriate sex relations.

An examination of the position of women in society today raises issues that have implications for understanding both the status of women and the relationship between property and power in a post-industrial capitalist economy. Five questions will be posed: 1) Would an increase in economic status allow women to choose to forgo marriage? 2) If women need not marry, do they increase their choices in the types of intimate relationships they can socially construct? 3) Do non-traditional, age discrepant relationships in which the woman is older and the man younger benefit the couple and their family? 4) Are non-traditional, age discrepant relationships in which the woman is older and the man younger more egalitarian? and, 5) Are relationships in which the woman is older and the man younger becoming more traditional?

In this study, the researcher will explore the relationship between older women and younger men and the affects of such a relationship. The researcher has hypothesized that the increase in economic status for women has allowed women to remain single; income is the independent variable and marital status is the dependent variable. The second hypothesis the researcher will analyze is the increase in economic status of women has allowed women to have more choices in relationships; sex and income are the independent variables and type of current social relationship is the dependent variable. These two hypotheses will be tested through a survey of older women / younger men age discrepant relationships.

The study will also use a qualitative approach by using in-depth interviews with individuals who are in older women/younger men age discrepant relationships. The researcher hypothesized that age discrepant relationships are beneficial to the union; sex and age of respondent and sex and age of respondent*****s partner are the independent variables, and happiness of relationship operationalized as time together, children from the relationship, and co-residence are the dependent variables. The second hypothesis states that older women / younger men age discrepant relationships are more egalitarian than older men / younger women or similar age couples; sex and age of respondent and sex and age of respondent*****s partner are the independent variables, while equal partnership in the relationship operationalized as how decisions are made, amount of time spent on housework each week, and the amount of time spent with children each week are the dependent variables. The last hypothesis the researcher will study is that older women / younger men age discrepant relationships are more socially accepted in today*****s society; sex and age of respondent and sex and age of respondent*****s partner are the independent variables, and acceptance of older women / younger men relationships is the dependent variable.

References:

Firestone, S. (2003). The dialectic of sex: The case for feminist revolution. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Huber, J. (2004). Lenski effects on sex stratification theory. Sociological Theory. 22(2), 259-268.

Lenski, G.E. (1984). Power & privilege: A theory of social stratification. New York, NY: McGraw -Hill.

Rowbotham, S. (1992). Women in movement: Feminism and social action. New York, NY: Routledge.

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