[s_baby]

>“For young women the problem in navigating sexuality and relationships is still gender inequality,” says Elizabeth Armstrong, a professor of sociology at the University of Michigan who specializes in sexuality and gender. “Young women complain that young men still have the power to decide when something is going to be serious and when something is not—they can go, ‘She’s girlfriend material, she’s hookup material.’

That's just as much a reflection of what women are looking for. If a woman is attracted to a guy who is "high value" relative to her then she is attracted to a guy who has options. She is attracted to guys she has a power differential with. These women could choose to settle for a relationship where they have the options and power but that's not what they want.

[chronid]

I fear where that reasoning is going.

Should I expect to have no say on how much serious I want a relationship to be in the future? In the name of "gender equality"? Holy crap.

[s_baby]

I don't see how anything like that would become a trend. But I think it makes for an interesting double standard in how we talk about these issues. If a sociologist was to describe a scarcity of sex for men as gender inequality she would be informed that men aren't entitled to sex from anyone and that she is promoting rape culture. A woman isn't entitled to a relationship from men any more than men are entitled to sex from women.