Publication Date
8-6-2025
Abstract
This study examines the portrayal of men’s and women’s sexuality in Ole Miss yearbooks from 1960 to 1980, analyzing how these depictions reflect the persistence of traditional Southern gender roles and sexual double standards despite the broader cultural shifts of the Sexual Revolution. Drawing from primary sources, including university yearbooks and sorority recruitment materials, as well as scholarly works on gender, sexuality, and Southern culture, this research highlights the ways in which women were consistently scrutinized and held to restrictive moral standards while men were granted greater sexual freedom. The study situates these portrayals within the historical context of shifting national attitudes toward gender and sexuality, as explored in works mentioned in the research. While the Sexual Revolution challenged traditional notions of femininity and masculinity on a national scale, the yearbooks reveal that Southern institutions—particularly Greek life—served as bastions of conservatism, reinforcing expectations of women’s purity and submission. The findings suggest that while social change was occurring in the broader American culture, the University of Mississippi maintained a discourse that both resisted and selectively integrated aspects of modern sexual norms, ultimately upholding longstanding gender hierarchies. This analysis contributes to the understanding of regional resistance to national cultural shifts and the role of institutional memory in shaping gender ideologies.
Winner: Outstanding Research Writing (Graduating Student)
Recommended Citation
Arnold, Haley
(2025)
"Ole Miss Yearbooks From 1960-1980 Reveal How Traditional Southern Gender Roles, Sexual Double Standards, and the Policing of Women's Behaviors and Bodies Persisted Through the Broader Cultural Shifts of the Sexual Revolution,"
Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 7, Article 2.
Available at:
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/umurjournal/vol7/iss1/2
