The experience of Christian college-age women ages 18--22 when faced with choices regarding their sexual behavior and relationships: A qualitative study

In 1982, Carol Gilligan wrote a book titled "In a Different Voice." She wrote about the importance of women's voices and how throughout history women's voices have been muffled or not viewed as important. One of the areas that women's voices have been ignored is in research about sexuality and Christianity. There is little literature on how Christian women view their sexuality. Much of the literature on church history avoids the topic of sex and when the topic of sex is addressed it is given a negative connotation (Bassett, Smith, Newell, and Richards, 1999).; The Bible teaches that having sexual intercourse before marriage is a sin. Although seventy five percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 are in agreement that premarital sex is not wrong (Gallup Poll review, 1997). This study explored and examined the ways in which college age women ages 18-22 understand and experience their sexual behavior and relationships when faced with social norms and pressures that are different from or in conflict with their Christian beliefs and values regarding sexuality through a qualitative design.; Ten young women ages 18 to 22 were the participants in this study. The participants were raised with the beliefs that sex before marriage was a sin that it was wrong. All the participants were Christians believing in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. They all attended Point Loma Nazarene University.; The results included four major themes and two minor themes. The major themes suggest that guilt, cognitive dissonance, conflict, and sex education are all major themes of this study that seemed to contribute significantly to the experience of these young women. The development of interpersonal relationships and value shifts were minor themes that seemed to contribute to the participant's experience of sexuality.