Location
McCool Hall Room 215
On October 5, Mississippi State University’s Gender Studies Program hosted the first event of its Fall 2026 programming series. Rachel Allison, Professor of Sociology, presented “You’ll Know by How They Dress and How They Act: How Young Adults Read Gender as Politics in an Era of Polarization,” drawing on a larger collaborative research project with Braden Leap, Associate Professor of Sociology, and Margaret Hagerman, Professor of Sociology.
Allison discussed how affective polarization and political homophily shape young adults’ dating preferences and experiences. Drawing on survey and interview data, she examined how young adults use gender presentation and other social cues to make assumptions about potential partners’ political identities and compatibility.
The lecture brought together students and faculty from across the university, including English, Sociology, History, and Anthropology, for a discussion of the increasingly complex relationships among gender, politics, and identity.