Modern Mating: Are U.S. Singles Redefining Courtship and Intimacy?
Justin R. Garcia, MS, PhD (Binghamton alumnus)
Ruth Halls Associate Professor of Gender Studies, Research Director, The Kinsey Institute
Indiana University
Monday, March 19, 2018
5:15 pm - 6:15 pm, S1-149
About the seminar
There are over 100-million single adults currently living in the United States. What does this mean for our understanding of romantic and sexual relationships. This talk will discuss the rise of singlehood in America, and how widespread use of technology is changing what we thought we knew about human courtship. Since 2010, Garcia and colleagues have partnered with the online dating company Match.com to conduct Singles in America (SIA), an annual survey on romantic and sexual attitudes and behaviors of U.S. singles. Garcia discusses how this research on U.S. singles — including contemporary dating practices, experiences with nonmonogamy, sexual behavior of single parents, romantic and sexual desires of older singles, dating attitudes of LGBT singles, and partner preferences — expands our theoretical and empirical understandings of romantic and sexual life. He then presents some findings from his work on sexual hookup culture and its relationship to singlehood. He concludes that singles are changing expression of evolved tendencies for pair-bonding, and redefining some aspects of courtship and the way we conceptualize intimacy.
About the speaker
Justin R. Garcia is Ruth Halls Endowed Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Research Director at The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington. He is also affiliate faculty with the IU Network Science Institute, Cognitive Science Program, and Fairbanks School of Public Health. Dr. Garcia holds an MS in biomedical anthropology and PhD in evolutionary biology from Binghamton University, and completed an NIH postdoctoral research fellowship at Indiana University. His research interests focus on the evolutionary foundations of variation in monogamy, intimacy, and sexual behavior, with a particular emphasis on biocultural approaches to sex, gender, dating, and reproductive strategies. He has published on a variety of topics related to romantic and sexual relationships, and is co-author (with Peter Gray) of Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior (Harvard University Press) and co-editor of Evolution's Empress: Darwinian Perspectives on the Nature of Women (Oxford University Press). Dr. Garcia has lent his expertise to a variety of industry partners, including serving as a scientific consultant to K-Y Brand, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and others, and has appeared as an expert witness for the U.S. Department of Defense. Since 2010 he has been Scientific Advisor to the world's largest dating company, Match.com.
Readings:
Haupert, M.L., Moors, A.C., Gesselman, A.N., & Garcia, J.R. (2017). Estimates and
correlates of engagement in consensually non-monogamous relationships. Current Sexual
Health Reports, 9(3), 155-165.
Garcia, J.R. & Heywood, L.L. (2016). Moving toward integrative feminist evolutionary behavioral sciences. Feminism & Psychology, 26(3), 327-334.
Garcia, J.R., Gesselman, A.N., Siliman, S.A., Perry, B.L., Coe, K., & Fisher, H.E. (2016). Sexting among singles in the U.S.A.: Prevalence of sending, receiving, and sharing sexual messages and images. Sexual Health, 13(5), 428-435.
Fisher, H.E. & Garcia, J.R. (In Press). Slow Love: Courtship in the digital age. In R.J. Sternberg & K. Sternberg (Eds.), The New Psychology of Love (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press.