Progressive Sex: A Critical Analysis of Sexual Agency and Satisfaction Across the Life Course of Progressive Chicagoan Women

This study analyzes how progressive cisgender women in Chicago, aged 51-77, have experienced and understood sexual agency and pleasure across the life course. Drawing on 12 qualitative interviews, I investigate how women with enduring commitments to gender equality and social justice negotiate heteronormative sexual scripts that prioritize male pleasure and constrain female agency. Framing the analysis through a multiscalar feminist sociological lens, the paper examines how structural transformations–such as increased access to reproductive technology, sexual liberation movements, and shifting norms around consent–interact with processes of gender socialization and interpersonal sexual dynamics. Participants' testimonies reveal that although they were socialized into traditional gender roles, they increasingly resisted those norms over time, especially as aging opened space to reflect, reframe, and revise earlier experiences. The findings show that progressive ideology both supported and was reinforced by greater sexual agency in later life, offering insight into how political consciousness, personal circumstances, and sociocultural context intersect in shaping intimate behavior. This study contributes to sociological research on gender, sexuality, and political identity by showing how women not only internalize but actively contest dominant sexual scripts as part of broader processes of ideological and sexual self-formation.