ABSTRACT
College is an important setting in which to examine how gender roles are constructed and enacted through discourse. During a student’s college years, genderrole differences may be suppressed, since most students, presumably, hope to succeed in their studies and prepare for their chosen careers. However, while the higher educational system rewards the (supposedly gender-neutral) drive for academic success, students’ goals are affected by how they accommodate to dichotomized gender roles. Differences in gender roles may be heightened as college students evaluate and choose potential mates from among those of the opposite sex (Holland and Eisenhart 1990), under the force of the heterosexual imperative (Rich 1980, Butler 1993) that drives much of campus social life. 2
