Author's personal copy J.Farrer et al. defined sexual scripts frame first sex and virginity loss (Thompson 1990;Holland et al.1998;Tolman 2002;Carpenter 2001,2005),scenarios for first dates (Laner and Ventrone 2000),gendered patterns for initiating sex (Lenton and Bryan 2005). and condom use (Hynie et al.1998).The sexual scripting perspective has also been used to analyze cultural change,including how American women developed new scripts for premarital coitus in the sexual revolution of the late 1960s (Reed and Weinberg 1984),and the development of new sexual scripts among gay men (Whittier and Melendez 2004)or within HIV intervention programs (Dworkin and Sullivan 2005).Research on youth sexual behavior in other contexts shows that cultural scenarios for sexual initiation are important in defining sexual possibilities for young people(Carpenter 2005).Premarital sexual scenarios are highly gendered, and are often described as reducing young women's sexual agency (Tolman 2002; Thompson 1995),particularly through scripts in which young women judge their experiences from a male perspective (Holland et al.1998). For the purpose of comparing and analyzing Japanese and Chinese cultural scenarios for premarital sexual behavior,we employ a narrative components framework developed from Kenneth Burke's dramaturgical approach to the cultural construction of human actions (Escoffer 2004;Gagnon 2004).An important intellectual influence on sexual scripting theory,Burke divides the cultural analysis of an action into five components which are known as the "dramaturgical pentad": the act itself;the scene,or the context in which an act happens;the agents or actors; agency,or the means to action;and the purpose or goals of action (Burke 1945; Gusfield 1989:15).Based on our data,we add the component of"consequences," which can be distinguished from the immediate purposes of action as the unforeseeable,though sometimes feared,outcome of actions (in this case, pregnancy or STDs).Using the narrative components of act,context,purpose, actors,agency and consequences,we analyze and compare the dominant cultural scenarios in which premarital sex was described by our Japanese and Chinese informants.The narrative components perspective allows us to analyze cultural scenarios as emphasizing some motivational elements over others.It is thus a kind of sociological "rhetoric of motives"to use the term from Kenneth Burke. In order to explain how cultural scenarios may enable or constrain sexual choices,we develop Burke's conception of the "scope"of a narrative (Burke 1989: 160-168).A scope can be explained as the narrowness of the context that is considered when narrating or framing an act.For example,people may consider the meanings of the same sexual act in social contexts of varying scope,ranging from the narrow scope of the immediate situation in which an act occurs (e.g.,two drunken people on a sofa in a dorm party)to a larger scope of social relationships and commitments (e.g.,the larger context of friends,family,church,etc.),similar to the different degrees of social "embedding"described by Rothbaum and Tsang (1998).Related to the idea of scope,we also develop Burke's idea of"ratio,"more specifically,the "ratio"of scene to act,or the degree to which the meanings of an act are circumscribed by the context in which it occurs (Burke 1989:135-138).That is,sexual scripts differ in the degree to which the meanings of sexual acts are limited by contexts (a high scene-act ratio),or having meanings relatively independent of contexts (a low scene-act ratio).We suggest that these differences in 2Springer
defined sexual scripts frame first sex and virginity loss (Thompson 1990; Holland et al. 1998; Tolman 2002; Carpenter 2001, 2005), scenarios for first dates (Laner and Ventrone 2000), gendered patterns for initiating sex (Lenton and Bryan 2005), and condom use (Hynie et al. 1998). The sexual scripting perspective has also been used to analyze cultural change, including how American women developed new scripts for premarital coitus in the sexual revolution of the late 1960s (Reed and Weinberg 1984), and the development of new sexual scripts among gay men (Whittier and Melendez 2004) or within HIV intervention programs (Dworkin and Sullivan 2005). Research on youth sexual behavior in other contexts shows that cultural scenarios for sexual initiation are important in defining sexual possibilities for young people (Carpenter 2005). Premarital sexual scenarios are highly gendered, and are often described as reducing young women’s sexual agency (Tolman 2002; Thompson 1995), particularly through scripts in which young women judge their experiences from a male perspective (Holland et al. 1998). For the purpose of comparing and analyzing Japanese and Chinese cultural scenarios for premarital sexual behavior, we employ a narrative components framework developed from Kenneth Burke’s dramaturgical approach to the cultural construction of human actions (Escoffer 2004; Gagnon 2004). An important intellectual influence on sexual scripting theory, Burke divides the cultural analysis of an action into five components which are known as the ‘‘dramaturgical pentad’’: the act itself; the scene, or the context in which an act happens; the agents or actors; agency, or the means to action; and the purpose or goals of action (Burke 1945; Gusfield 1989: 15). Based on our data, we add the component of ‘‘consequences,’’ which can be distinguished from the immediate purposes of action as the unforeseeable, though sometimes feared, outcome of actions (in this case, pregnancy or STDs). Using the narrative components of act, context, purpose, actors, agency and consequences, we analyze and compare the dominant cultural scenarios in which premarital sex was described by our Japanese and Chinese informants. The narrative components perspective allows us to analyze cultural scenarios as emphasizing some motivational elements over others. It is thus a kind of sociological ‘‘rhetoric of motives’’ to use the term from Kenneth Burke. In order to explain how cultural scenarios may enable or constrain sexual choices, we develop Burke’s conception of the ‘‘scope’’ of a narrative (Burke 1989: 160–168). A scope can be explained as the narrowness of the context that is considered when narrating or framing an act. For example, people may consider the meanings of the same sexual act in social contexts of varying scope, ranging from the narrow scope of the immediate situation in which an act occurs (e.g., two drunken people on a sofa in a dorm party) to a larger scope of social relationships and commitments (e.g., the larger context of friends, family, church, etc.), similar to the different degrees of social ‘‘embedding’’ described by Rothbaum and Tsang (1998). Related to the idea of scope, we also develop Burke’s idea of ‘‘ratio,’’ more specifically, the ‘‘ratio’’ of scene to act, or the degree to which the meanings of an act are circumscribed by the context in which it occurs (Burke 1989: 135–138). That is, sexual scripts differ in the degree to which the meanings of sexual acts are limited by contexts (a high scene–act ratio), or having meanings relatively independent of contexts (a low scene–act ratio). We suggest that these differences in J. Farrer et al. 123 Author's personal copy
Author's personal copy Re-Embedding Sexual Meanings “scope”(breadth of social embedding)and“ratios'”(context dependency)of sexual scripts have broad implications for understanding similarities and differences in the social construction of sexual acts within sexual scripts. Data The data for this study come from in-depth interviews conducted from 2002 to 2007 with Chinese and Japanese university students and recent graduates about their own recent relationships as well as general attitudes toward sexuality.This research follows a qualitative or "constructionist"approach to investigating social relation- ships (Marvasti 2004),using open-ended qualitative interviews to understand the ideas of social agents in their own terms,asking them to supply detailed descriptions of cultural codes and define social contexts (Marvasti 2004;Weiss 1995;Merton etal.1990). Informants were a convenience sample contacted by a diverse group of student interviewers,and were removed by two to four social ties from the primary investigators.Interviews lasted between 1 and 4 h (typically 1.5 h),and were recorded and fully transcribed by the interviewers.Interviewees were unpaid volunteers.Privacy was assured by eliminating identifying details from the transcripts before analysis.Individual interviews focused on eliciting a narrative account of the current or most recent relationship.The interviewers were also provided with a set of topics as prompts for follow-up questions,including initial sexual involvement and sex within the relationship. The Japanese sample is based on 135 open-ended qualitative interviews with 48 males and 87 females.Of the informants,78 were full-time students in 2-or 4-year colleges in the Tokyo area (median age 21 years),while 57 others were recent graduates (median age 24 years).All informants and their partners were Japanese nationals living in the Tokyo region at the time of the interview.Of our informants, 95%were having sex in the relationship,almost always after a formal "confession" of love and declaration of entering into "going steady"(tsukiau)relationship. For the Chinese sample,individual interviews were conducted with 111 students or recent graduates of Shanghai universities,interviewed individually or in small groups.Of the 68 individual interviews,33 interviewees were male(48.5%)and 35 were female (51.5%).Of the informants,42 (61.8%)were native Shanghainese, while 26 informants(38.2%)were born in other provinces but currently resident in Shanghai.Thirty-five informants (51.5%)were already working (median age 24 years),while 33 informants (48.5%)were still university students when interviewed (median age 21 years).Forty informants (58.8%)had already had sexual intercourse with their partners,while 28(41.2%)had not.In addition to individual interviews,43 Shanghai students participated in 10 group interviews in Shanghai(8 male and 35 female),ages ranging from 17 to 22,with a median age of 20.The focus group interviews were conducted using a hypothetical storyline of a relationship from first meeting to sexual intercourse and breakup. Analysis of the data for this paper followed the procedures for case-based grounded theory described by Robert Weiss (1995),involving the construction of ②Springer
‘‘scope’’ (breadth of social embedding) and ‘‘ratios’’ (context dependency) of sexual scripts have broad implications for understanding similarities and differences in the social construction of sexual acts within sexual scripts. Data The data for this study come from in-depth interviews conducted from 2002 to 2007 with Chinese and Japanese university students and recent graduates about their own recent relationships as well as general attitudes toward sexuality. This research follows a qualitative or ‘‘constructionist’’ approach to investigating social relationships (Marvasti 2004), using open-ended qualitative interviews to understand the ideas of social agents in their own terms, asking them to supply detailed descriptions of cultural codes and define social contexts (Marvasti 2004; Weiss 1995; Merton et al. 1990). Informants were a convenience sample contacted by a diverse group of student interviewers, and were removed by two to four social ties from the primary investigators. Interviews lasted between 1 and 4 h (typically 1.5 h), and were recorded and fully transcribed by the interviewers. Interviewees were unpaid volunteers. Privacy was assured by eliminating identifying details from the transcripts before analysis. Individual interviews focused on eliciting a narrative account of the current or most recent relationship. The interviewers were also provided with a set of topics as prompts for follow-up questions, including initial sexual involvement and sex within the relationship. The Japanese sample is based on 135 open-ended qualitative interviews with 48 males and 87 females. Of the informants, 78 were full-time students in 2- or 4-year colleges in the Tokyo area (median age 21 years), while 57 others were recent graduates (median age 24 years). All informants and their partners were Japanese nationals living in the Tokyo region at the time of the interview. Of our informants, 95% were having sex in the relationship, almost always after a formal ‘‘confession’’ of love and declaration of entering into ‘‘going steady’’ (tsukiau) relationship. For the Chinese sample, individual interviews were conducted with 111 students or recent graduates of Shanghai universities, interviewed individually or in small groups. Of the 68 individual interviews, 33 interviewees were male (48.5%) and 35 were female (51.5%). Of the informants, 42 (61.8%) were native Shanghainese, while 26 informants (38.2%) were born in other provinces but currently resident in Shanghai. Thirty-five informants (51.5%) were already working (median age 24 years), while 33 informants (48.5%) were still university students when interviewed (median age 21 years). Forty informants (58.8%) had already had sexual intercourse with their partners, while 28 (41.2%) had not. In addition to individual interviews, 43 Shanghai students participated in 10 group interviews in Shanghai (8 male and 35 female), ages ranging from 17 to 22, with a median age of 20. The focus group interviews were conducted using a hypothetical storyline of a relationship from first meeting to sexual intercourse and breakup. Analysis of the data for this paper followed the procedures for case-based grounded theory described by Robert Weiss (1995), involving the construction of Re-Embedding Sexual Meanings 123 Author's personal copy
Author's personal copy J.Farrer et al. ideal-typical scenarios,or generic narratives,referenced in individual accounts. Multiple coders worked separately on the data,and the final interpretative process involved repeated discussion among the members of the research teams in China and Japan.The primary investigator,who speaks and reads both Chinese and Japanese,managed both teams to ensure a comparable process of data gathering and analysis. For both Chinese and Japanese students,it was simple to identify a dominant cultural scenario for entering into sexual relationships.In both China and Japan,the dominant cultural scenario for premarital sexual intimacy is defined by the dating relationship (lianai or renai).Students are aware of and might even advocate alternative scenarios,as is discussed below,but were in general agreement as to what they perceived as a mainstream cultural scenario.This dominant cultural scenario,which we call "the relational scenario"could be described as a collective representation,or a norm,to which students orient their own personal stories.The goal of the analysis of findings below is to analyze this "relational"scenario for premarital sex,based on informant statements and reported behaviors.Alternative cultural scenarios for premarital sex are discussed afterward. A Comparison of the Japanese and Chinese Cultural Scenarios for Premarital Sex Based on Narrative Components The Act:A Gendered“Loss”Versus a“Graduation from Virginity” Chinese and Japanese informants shared an assumption that the act of sex involved vaginal penetration in heterosexual intercourse.Most Chinese informants associated the act of intercourse before marriage with a gendered idea of chastity.Women's “chastity”is tied to a concept of men's“responsibility.”Women are no longer "perfect"if the relationship ends in separation,and sex can result in permanent "damage."As a culturally momentous act,sex is a sacrifice a woman makes to a man,and the first sex is a valuable gift that should be preserved for a beloved partner.Referring to this representative scenario as rationale,women described delaying or denying sex to a boyfriend,and men described feeling hesitant to have sex with a girlfriend,especially when the woman was a virgin.The following three interview excerpts illustrate this cultural definition of first sex: Yang:A man should want to stay with her for life,he should want to marry her,because that girl gave her first time to him.If a girl gives her first time to him,and that boy doesn't want her in the end,then if she goes out with a second boy,what will that second boy think? Moderator:So you think a girl's first time is important? Yang:It's very important! Moderator:Who is it important for? Yang:For boys and for girls.Boys certainly don't want to "eat"somebody else's left-over dish,do they? (Focus group 2,Chinese students) 2Springer
ideal-typical scenarios, or generic narratives, referenced in individual accounts. Multiple coders worked separately on the data, and the final interpretative process involved repeated discussion among the members of the research teams in China and Japan. The primary investigator, who speaks and reads both Chinese and Japanese, managed both teams to ensure a comparable process of data gathering and analysis. For both Chinese and Japanese students, it was simple to identify a dominant cultural scenario for entering into sexual relationships. In both China and Japan, the dominant cultural scenario for premarital sexual intimacy is defined by the dating relationship (lianai or renai). Students are aware of and might even advocate alternative scenarios, as is discussed below, but were in general agreement as to what they perceived as a mainstream cultural scenario. This dominant cultural scenario, which we call ‘‘the relational scenario’’ could be described as a collective representation, or a norm, to which students orient their own personal stories. The goal of the analysis of findings below is to analyze this ‘‘relational’’ scenario for premarital sex, based on informant statements and reported behaviors. Alternative cultural scenarios for premarital sex are discussed afterward. A Comparison of the Japanese and Chinese Cultural Scenarios for Premarital Sex Based on Narrative Components The Act: A Gendered ‘‘Loss’’ Versus a ‘‘Graduation from Virginity’’ Chinese and Japanese informants shared an assumption that the act of sex involved vaginal penetration in heterosexual intercourse. Most Chinese informants associated the act of intercourse before marriage with a gendered idea of chastity. Women’s ‘‘chastity’’ is tied to a concept of men’s ‘‘responsibility.’’ Women are no longer ‘‘perfect’’ if the relationship ends in separation, and sex can result in permanent ‘‘damage.’’ As a culturally momentous act, sex is a sacrifice a woman makes to a man, and the first sex is a valuable gift that should be preserved for a beloved partner. Referring to this representative scenario as rationale, women described delaying or denying sex to a boyfriend, and men described feeling hesitant to have sex with a girlfriend, especially when the woman was a virgin. The following three interview excerpts illustrate this cultural definition of first sex: Yang: A man should want to stay with her for life, he should want to marry her, because that girl gave her first time to him. If a girl gives her first time to him, and that boy doesn’t want her in the end, then if she goes out with a second boy, what will that second boy think? Moderator: So you think a girl’s first time is important? Yang: It’s very important! Moderator: Who is it important for? Yang: For boys and for girls. Boys certainly don’t want to ‘‘eat’’ somebody else’s left-over dish, do they? (Focus group 2, Chinese students) J. Farrer et al. 123 Author's personal copy