College is a new and exciting time for any student. Besides binge drinking and partying heavily, casually having sex makes up a large part of college culture. Hook up culture is positive act for people because increases body confidence, allows relaxation for the mind and body, and it is part of college lifestyle. Body confidence is a growing trend in today’s world, but casual sex is being excused with the amount of confidence one person has. If someone has worked hard to maintain their body, then showing it off it completely understandable. But casual sex isn’t the best way to attempt to gain confidence, or self-love, because there are emotional downsides. Shame is a common feeling after hooking up, someone might feel embarrassed after the act. “There are also several reports on behavioral concomitants indicating that shame might motivate social avoidance, withdrawal, submissiveness, aggression.” (Claesson, Katja, et al). Student’s might blame themselves afterwards or feel like their standards have been lowered. Some students might even develop anxiety or depression due to guilt and regret. The …show more content…
However, safe sex is losing popularity. “The National College Health Assessment conducted by the American College Health Association (ACHA-NCHA) found that of the nearly 50% percent of college students who reported engaging in vaginal sex in the last 30 days, only half (50.3%) reported using a condom or other barrier method during sex.” (Fehr, Sara K., et al). Being risky during sex could cause life long problems. STD’s can go undetected for years, someone might not show symptoms until years after college. STI’s (sexually transmitted infections) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) are other downsides of careless sex. Possibly getting pregnant from unprotected sex is a life changing factor for both partners. Taking risks and having fun for a proper college experience is not worth of the
In Hookups Starve the Soul, an essay by Laura Vanderkam, Mrs. Vanderkam argues the fact that the real problem with hookups is not the act of promiscuity, but rather the lack of meaning behind it. I believe one is entitled to do whatever he or she pleases, with his or her body. Having the ability to hook up, particularly for college students, forces the person to become more confident and comfortable along with giving the participant a sense of power. On the contrary, through this sexual freedom, men and women are still held to different standards.
In reaction to the media’s numerous stigmas around college hookup culture in recent years, sociologists and psychologists have begun to investigate adolescent and young adult hookups more systematically. In “Is Hooking Up Bad for Young Women?” by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton and Paula England, this issue is addressed through a reaction to previous articles from sources on opposite sides. One side of the argument over sexual activity for young women places them at risk of “low self esteem, depression, alcoholism, and eating disorders,” while the other side argues that the underlying issue is the “moral panic over casual sex.” This issue has been seen by many as a “sudden and alarming change in youth sexual culture,” but systematic research has shown that experiences of young women in college
Although it is not to say the people of color do not engage in casual sex, but rather that greater hookup culture on average college campuses represents a classist, eurocentric, racist, ableist, and heteronormative system that marginalizes a wide range of students. This social hierarchy rooted in exclusion is a self-perpetuating cycle that often times goes undiscussed, and uncriticized. The author engages with these issues, however, there is definite room for more on the nature of involuntary exclusion in this culture.
Despite the widespread notion that the hookup culture found across college campuses today is both desired and prevalent throughout Americas advanced educational institutions, Donna Freitas, a professor of religion at Boston College has found quite the opposite to be true. In fact, in her article Sex, Lies, and Hookup Culture, which addresses the distasteful but unavoidable subject, she presents extensive data from her numerous studies which attest that, surprisingly, the majority of students on campuses nationwide are in solidarity with college administrators, church leaders, and other organizations who support the eradication of the harmful culture. However, while such evidence would seem to support an expected quick destabilization of the hookup culture in today’s society, Freitas article notes that unfortunately it continues to persist strongly.
Bogle concluded, “Hooking up is dominant on campus, but it represents a wide range in terms of level of participation and sexual behaviors” (2008:183). Students mentioned that they rely on non-verbal cues when initiating, discussing and terminating hookups. In Sounds of Silence, Hall and Hall state, “Through ways so subtle that they lie beyond even our own perception- and ways so obvious that no one can miss the message- we communicate feelings of comfort and discomfort, trust and distrust, pleasure or tension, suspicion, uncertainties, desires, and a host of other feelings and concerns” (2007:109). In their interviews, students recall the importance of a potential partner’s vibe. By subtle nuances, a student can tell that a person is interested in a hookup and that they are ready to leave to go hook up. At the end of a hookup, one of the partners will signal the end of the encounter (Bogle 2008). With little verbal communication, two students can easily follow the proper social script to correspond one’s intentions. Most importantly, students have a non-verbal agreement that a hookup does not indicate a commitment to each other. Across all type of hookups, students do not automatically enter a relationship with one another due to hooking
Intercourse is a sensitive and confrontational decision; most people don’t like to discuss that part of their life. With a decision like this, it can cause many problems for the college and its students. The decision to take this action can cause a financial burden, as the college will be viewed, and take away responsibility from the students. The financial point of view in this situation is beneficial for the college.
Students should be informed about more than just “don’t have sex” because eventually it is going to happen and they need to be educated on the proper way to handle the situations. Because students are mostly taught abstinence it has created the situation to where researchers find” Abstinence-only education, instead of reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, has made teenagers and young adults more vulnerable to ST...
As teenagers and young adults, we are just beginning to understand intimacy and relationships, unfortunately the hookup culture is leaving us lost and confused on
One of the problems with the hookup culture is that courting and traditional dating has decreased and sexual behavior outside of traditional committed romantic pair-bonds has become increasingly typical and socially acceptable. Monto and Carey use England’s Online College Social Life Survey to point out that “78% of a sample of students from a Northeastern university reported hooking up, with 47.5% of men and 33.3% of women reporting that the experience included intercourse” (Monto and Carey 605). The popular media have claimed that the hookup culture is a widespread phenomenon that has suggested that the traditional romantic date is nearly dead on campuses and has been replaced by casual sexual relationships (607). A decline in traditional dating and courtship practices has occurred on American college campuses (605). As a sexual solution for the demands of college students, hooking up became incorporated into notions of what the college experience should be (Hamilton and Armstrong 604). Students are involved in hookup culture to get experiences in their college lifestyle, and they think that hooking up is fun and nonthreatening without the demands of serious
Wax, Amy L. “Sex without Desire: Exploring the Rituals of the Campus Hook-Up Culture.” The
The hookup culture has become deeply ingrained in the college experience, all across the country students are fulfilling their desires while preserving their autonomy. On the surface the hookup culture doesn’t sound so bad, however, I am going to argue that the hookup culture itself stems from and promulgates problematic societal inequalities. I will develop my claim by first discussing the dominance of the hookup culture and the societal pressure placed on those who don’t want to participate or are unsure about participating in what the culture has to offer. Then, I will illustrate why the general dynamic of the heterosexual hookup is an uneven playing field even for women who actively choose to participate in the hookup culture. Finally,
In college, there is a culture that exists all over the country of binge drinking. College is the first time a lot of students are on their own for the first time and have opportunities to consume alcohol. Joining a Greek chapter only creates more opportunities for consuming alcohol in mass quantities. Especially as a new member, many members feel a pressure to drink to fit in or even drink to relax and feel more comfortable in their environment. A study done of Greek organizations found that “there are strong positive associations between fraternity and sorority membership and alcohol use, alcohol use and sexual assault, and fraternities, alcohol, and sexual aggression” (Anderson 88).
The government likes to pretend that if high school students get taught the “abstinence-only” method they would never think of taking part in sexual activities. Statistically this is incorrect. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “56 percent of high school students are virgins”(Martin). For the 56 percent abstinence only is doing them well, but there are still 44 percent of high school students engaging in sex without knowing the precau...
Paul, E. L., & Hayes, K. A. (2002). The casualties of “casual” sex: A qualitative exploration of the phenomenology of college students’ hookups. Journal of personal and Social Relationships, 19, 639-661.
Three million teenagers will contract a sexually transmitted disease and one in three women will become pregnant before they are twenty years old. Teens are contracting sexually transmitted diseases and getting pregnant at an alarming rate causing the government, schools, and parents to scratch their heads. America is the country with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. Many are wondering what can be done to stop this. A debate has been going on about whether abstinence only education is doing any good for high school students in America. Abstinence only education teaches teenagers to abstain from all sexual acts until they are married. It does not teach about pregnancy or the different types of contraceptives that are available to prevent pregnancy. On the other hand, there is safe sex education. Safe sex education teaches teenagers facts about intercourse they need to know, acknowledges the potential consequences or risks of sexual behavior, and helps them make better decisions to protect themselves and their bodies.