Hookup Culture Research Articles

Priming Sexual and Romantic Representations in Two Media Environments: Sex Encourages and Romance Discourages Sexual Permissiveness … Sometimes

Two experiments (Ns = 314, 447) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of sexual cues in temporarily increasing young adults’ self-reported sexual permissiveness, as well as the effects of romantic cues in temporarily decreasing permissiveness. Participants were exposed to sexual or romantic cues embedded as a theme-defining component of an online game (Study 1) or in advertisements peripheral to the online game (Study 2). Sexual and romantic conditions were compared against a control condition. As hypothesized, participants in the romantic conditions rated themselves lower in sexual permissiveness, compared to participants in the sexual and control conditions, particularly when participants positively evaluated the online game experience. Findings suggest that exposure to entertaining media depictions of two people, as a committed couple, expressing love, as well as lust, for each other might deter young adults from considering engagement in casual sexual encounters indicative of “hookup culture.”

US Black college women’s sexual health in hookup culture: intersections of race and gender

Approximately 60–80% of college students in the USA report a hookup experience in the form of a casual sexual encounter between individuals without the expectation of a dating or romantic relationship. Given the potential health risk posed by these sexual encounters, the need exists to critically examine this cultural phenomenon on college campuses. Yet, the existing hookup literature is overwhelming White and often exclusive of historically marginalised populations such as Black women. Accordingly, this paper examines the role of the intersecting identities of race and gender and other social factors that influence the sexual health and wellbeing of Black women on US college campuses. Specifically, we explore issues related to the gender ratio disparities present on college campuses, relationship power imbalances, inconsistent condom use and low sexual-risk perception. Moving forward, hookup research needs to utilise an intersectional approach; we offer specific suggestions for the important inclusion of Black women in the broader hookup discourse and future research.

Which Gradualism? Whose Relationships?

The 2014 extraordinary meeting of the Synod of Bishops explicitly referenced gradualism three times in theRelatio post Disceptationem. Is this moral theology concept helpful for analyzing relationships? This question is more difficult than it first seems. One needs to first ask “which gradualism,” as the three references imply three different understandings: Gradualism as Growth in Holiness, Gradualism as Pastoral Practice, and Gradualism as Inclusivism. Second, one must ask “whose relationship” it can help. I turn to hookup culture as it is a ubiquitous phenomenon on college campuses. As only Gradualism as Inclusivism proves helpful in hookup culture, it has the best potential to help those pursuing good relationships that might not readily align with church teaching.

The Impact of Exposure to Sexually Oriented Media on the Endorsement of Hookup Culture: A Panel Study of First-Year College Students

The “hookup culture” is prevalent, both in the media and on college campuses. The purpose of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relations between sexually oriented media exposure and emerging adults' endorsement of the hookup culture (EHC). To study this issue, a panel study of 1st-year college students was conducted. Participants completed a questionnaire on their media habits and EHC at the beginning of their 1st year of college and again at the end of the year. Among male 1st-year students, Time 1 exposure to both sexually oriented television and magazines predicted Time 2 EHC. Among female 1st-year students, sexually oriented media exposure was not related to EHC. Findings are discussed in light of gender differences in scripts-based theories of sexual development.

Facebook fired: Legal perspectives and young adults’ opinions on the use of social media in hiring and firing decisions

In this exploratory study, we examine young adult undergraduates’ (n=448) opinions regarding the use of social media for employment decisions, a practice that has been highlighted in the popular press and recent legal cases. Most of the young adults in our sample were not in support of this practice (only one third were), and most expressed a liberal view of what should be permissible for posting on social media without the threat of job termination (e.g., less than half believed that posting illegal sexual behavior online should result in termination). Additionally, those who were most opposed to using social media in employment decisions were older, had less self-control, were more endorsing of the hookup culture, and were more open to experience. We discuss these findings with regard to current social media/work life issues, suggesting that: (1) these opinions may affect companies and legal entities who are developing social media policies, but also (2) that young adults need to be aware that regardless of their opinions on the practice, their social media use could have long-term effects on their careers.

Sexual Assault Among College Students: Family of Origin Hostility, Attachment, and the Hook-Up Culture as Risk Factors

Sexual assault has been recognized as a major public health problem and social concern among college students for several decades. In response to the inadequacies of many universities to effectively address this problem, researchers, policy makers, and the public alike have recently called for greater attention to reducing the high rates of sexual violence against college women. The present study expands on the current literature by investigating familial, individual, and sociocultural risk factors for sexual assault. Specifically, we examine insecure adult attachment styles and the hook-up culture on college campuses as mediators in the relationship between family of origin aggression and sexual assault perpetration by men and victimization among women. Research questions were addressed with a sample of 624 college undergraduates (54 % women). Consistent with hypotheses, results of structural equation modeling indicated that an avoidant attachment style and participation in the hook-up culture accounted for the relationship between exposure to interparental hostility and sexual assault perpetration by men and victimization among women. Further, among women, an anxious attachment style accounted for the relationship between harsh parenting and victimization. These findings have important implications for future research, relationship education programs for parents and young adults, and preventative interventions. For example, parents can learn about the risks of exposing their offspring to hostility and aggression while adolescents and young adults may benefit from relationship education programs that help establish healthy working models of relationships.

Masculine Status, Sexual Performance, and the Sexual Stigmatization of Women

Collegiate hookup culture advances ideas of masculinity but contradicts notions of appropriate feminine sexuality. Drawing on focus group and interview data with college students, I examine how a group of class‐ and race‐privileged fraternity men face dilemmas as they enact a group constructed masculinity focused on sexual performance and the objectification of women. I employ a symbolic interactionist framework to illustrate how men, attentive to peer status yet anxious about the sexual stigmatization of women, draw on cultural ideas about appropriate feminine sexuality as they account for their approaches to sex and women (both with whom they interact sexually and how) along a range of intimacy—from hookups to committed relationships. I demonstrate that heterosexual interaction does not unequivocally link to masculine status and that men sometimes strive to limit the impact of casual sex or avoid it altogether.

Party animals or responsible men: social class, race, and masculinity on campus

Studies of collegiate party and hookup culture tend to overlook variation along social class and racial/ethnic lines. Drawing on interview data at a “party school” in the Midwest, I examine the meanings and practices of drinking and casual sex for a group of class and race-diverse fraternity men. While more privileged men draw on ideas of age and gender to construct college as a time to let loose, indulge, and explore, men from disadvantaged backgrounds express greater ambivalence toward partying. For these men, partying presents both opportunities and dilemmas and taps into tensions inherent in being upwardly mobile college men. For some, symbolic abstention from extreme party behavior addresses some of these tensions and validates their place on campus. Men’s talk of collegiate partying reveals the dynamic and relational construction of intersectional identities on campus.

The sexual double standard and gender differences in attitudes toward casual sex among U.S. university students

AbstractBACKGROUNDA significant portion of premarital sexual activity is casual rather than in relationships, and commentators disagree on whether this is what women prefer.OBJECTIVEWe examine gender differences in attitudes toward casual sex. We also assess whether there is a double standard whereby women are judged more harshly for casual sex.METHODSWe use a large online survey of U.S. university students to examine gender differences with regard to attitudes and reports of sexual behavior.RESULTSWhile distributions overlap, the average man looks more favorably on casual sex than the average woman. Both sexes show substantial openness to relationships. We find evidence of a double standard: men are more judgmental toward women than toward men who have casual sex. Men appear to over-report and/or women to under-report intercourse and fellatio, suggesting that men see these acts as enhancing and/or women see them as diminishing their status.CONCLUSIONSWomen face more negative judgment than men when they are known to engage in casual sex, and they also report less interest in casual sex than men. Our analysis does not permit us to assess whether the double standard we find evidence of explains why women have less interest in casual sex, but we hypothesize that this is the case.1. IntroductionIn the United States today, average age at first intercourse is 17, first marriages are typically in the mid-20s, and premarital sex is ubiquitous (Guttmacher Institute 2013). Numerous other affluent nations also have late marriage and substantial premarital sex (Schalet 2011; Darroch et al. 2001; Hubert et al. 2004). For U.S. cohorts born before World War II, much of premarital heterosexual activity was between partners engaged to be married, but later cohorts were more likely to have had sex in relationships that didn't lead to marriage (Klassen et al. 1989). More recently premarital sexual activity is often in contexts even more casual than a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship (Manning et al. 2006; Bogle 2008; Armstrong et al. 2012). It is likely that these changes, common to affluent Western nations, arose from structural and cultural changes that promoted secularization and individualism, and which manifest in casual sex among young adults, as well as the rise of childbearing within cohabitation (Surkyn and Lesthaeghe 2004). In the U.S., the rise of casual sex has been dubbed the culture.Commentators disagree on whether the casual sex entailed on hookups is good for women and whether it is what women want. Regarding the U.S. college scene, Bogle (2008) calls the disagreement over whether relationships or hookups are preferable a war of the sexes that women have lost. (For similar views see Glenn and Marquardt 2001; Regnerus and Uecker 2011; Regnerus 2012). These authors posit the conventional wisdom that men want casual sex more than women, while women are more desirous of relationships and limiting sex to relationships. Evolutionary psychologists argue that men's greater interest in casual sex is hard-wired (Buss 1989; Baumeister et al. 2001). Many social scientists, on the other hand, see such gender differences in preferences for casual sex as resulting from a socially enforced double standard: girls and women are judged harshly if they are seen as too sexual (Crawford and Popp 2003; Miller 2008; Armstrong et al. 2012), while boys and men more often receive accolades (Pascoe 2007). Other journalists and social scientists question the claim that women are more interested in relationships than men. They argue that many college women participate enthusiastically in the hookup culture, and that it is better for women's autonomy, education, and careers to avoid relationships till well into their 20s (Rosin 2012:17-46; Hamilton and Armstrong 2009).We use a large dataset on U.S. college students to examine whether there is evidence for a double standard and for gender differences in attitudes toward casual sex. …

A New Standard of Sexual Behavior? Are Claims Associated With the “Hookup Culture” Supported by General Social Survey Data?

Popular media have described intimate relationships among contemporary college students as dominated by a pervasive sexual “hookup culture,” implying that students are involved in frequent sexual encounters pursued by both participants without the expectation of a continuing relationship. The hookup culture has been described as “a nationwide phenomenon that has largely replaced traditional dating on college campuses” (Bogle, 2008, p. 5). We tested whether these claims are supported among young adults (18–25) who had completed at least one year of college. Contrasting 1988–1996 waves of the General Social Survey with 2004–2012 waves, we found respondents from the current era did not report more sexual partners since age 18, more frequent sex, or more partners during the past year than respondents from the earlier era. Sexually active respondents from the current era were more likely than those from the earlier era to report sex with a casual date/pickup or friend, and less likely to report sex with a spouse/regular partner. These modest changes are consistent with cultural shifts in the “scripts” and terminology surrounding sexuality. We find no evidence of substantial changes in sexual behavior that would indicate a new or pervasive pattern of non-relational sex among contemporary college students.

Unequal to the Task

Item 1: A recent New York Times article highlighted a study of 24,000 students over five years that revealed differences between men’s and women’s attainment of sexual fulfillment in the hookup culture. Despite the best efforts of feminism to enforce parity between the sexes in all areas of life—abetted by government, academia, popular culture, the media, as well as the ever-threatening presence of political correctness—it seems that an outstanding “inequality,” as it was termed, still persists. Women do not achieve orgasm in casual sex at nearly the rate that men do—only “about 40 percent of women had an orgasm during their last hookup involving intercourse, while 80 percent of men did.” As one professor observed, “The notion of sexual liberation, where men and women both had equal access to casual sex, assumed a comparable likelihood of that sex being pleasurable.” But, he concluded rather solemnly, “that part of the playing field is not level.” The study also revealed that “roughly three quarters of women in the survey said they had an orgasm the last time they had sex in a committed relationship.” The idea that God and/or Nature may have designed things that way for good reasons cut no ice in the discussion of this particular “inequality.” Acad. Quest. (2014) 27:12–17 DOI 10.1007/s12129-014-9413-8

Come Closer to Feminism: Gratitude as Activist Encounter in Women’s and Gender Studies 101

© 2015 by the board of trustees of the university of ill inois There are many things that can impede teaching and learning in the Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies undergraduate classroom. Most teachers can probably rattle them off in five seconds. A well-known challenge is teaching students about “bad news”: rape on college campuses; shooting deaths of unarmed black teenagers; aggressive social control of women’s lives and bodies through legislation and court rulings; stigmatization of immigrants; escalating violence against trans women; and the entrenched racial and class system that has led to the extraordinary rise in mass incarceration of people of color and women. To make matters worse, the introductory course, which is typically offered as a general education requirement at many institutions, attracts students with “open hostility to the subject matter” (National Women’s Studies Association 10). For many teachers of introductory women’s and gender studies, we are in the position of introducing bad news to an already hostile audience. To deal directly with this dilemma, I have been rereading Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and taking inspiration from bell hooks’s Feminism is for Everybody, but a profound influence on my teaching recently is the voice of an American teenager, Julie Zeilinger, the author of A Little F’d Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word. Zeilinger addresses young women’s negative emotions about feminism in a clear, humorous, and relaxed way. She analyzes foundational feminist issues and women’s history, and she covers contemporary media and body image, bullying, human trafficking, hook-up culture, cyber-stalking, racism, and the challenges of global feminism. Some have correctly pointed out that Zeilinger does not go into sufficient depth about these topics, nor does she thoroughly explore the implications of her own background. She refers to herself as a “privileged white girl” from Pepper Pike, Ohio, and she mentions that her racial and economic privilege is “definitely something that’s shaping this book” (83). Others complain that A Little F’d Up lacks historical and theoretical nuance, making it too simplistic for university and college classrooms. And some find Zelinger’s use of teen vernacular distracting and, at times, disrespectful. While these misgivings must be taken seriously, the author’s book—which was Come Closer to Feminism: Gratitude as Activist Encounter in Women’s and Gender Studies 101

Hooking Up and Risk Behaviors Among First Semester College Men: What is the Role of Precollege Experience?

Some scholars assert that a hookup culture exists on college campuses and that individuals who attend college are socialized into a hookup script. This study examines hooking up among first-semester college men (N = 158), with specific attention to precollege heavy episodic drinking (i.e., binge drinking) and precollege hookup experience. We found that freshman men begin a pattern of hooking up well before attending college. After controlling for known correlates of hooking up, men had more hookup partners during their first semester at college if they engaged in greater levels of precollege binge drinking and had greater precollege hookup experience. Men were also more likely to have penetrative sex hookups (i.e., oral sex and/or intercourse) if they had done so prior to college. Precollege binge drinking and precollege hookup experience were also associated with unplanned sexual activity when drinking, and men were more likely to have unprotected sex when drinking during their first semester if they engaged in more frequent precollege binge drinking. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

Queer Women in the Hookup Scene

The college hookup scene is a profoundly gendered and heteronormative sexual field. Yet the party and bar scene that gives rise to hookups also fosters the practice of women kissing other women in public, generally to the enjoyment of male onlookers, and sometimes facilitates threesomes involving same-sex sexual behavior between women. In this article, we argue that the hookup scene serves as an opportunity structure to explore same-sex attractions and, at least for some women, to later verify bisexual, lesbian, or queer sexual identities. Based on quantitative and qualitative data and combining queer theory and identity theory, we offer a new interpretation of women’s same-sex practices in the hookup culture. Our analysis contributes to gender theory by demonstrating the utility of identity theory for understanding how non-normative gender and sexual identities are negotiated within heteronormatively structured fields.

The end of sex: how hookup culture is leaving a generation unhappy, sexually unfulfilled, and confused about intimacy

The end of sex: how hookup culture is leaving a generation unhappy, sexually unfulfilled, and confused about intimacy

Sexual Morality: A Natural Law Approach to Intimate Relationships. By JOHN J. PIDERIT, SJ.

John J. Piderit attempts to develop ‘a systematic approach to sexual morality’ (p. xiii) to support young adults living in a hook-up culture in which most young people in the United States engage in, as he thinks, sexual intimacy without any serious commitment to one another or to a long-lasting relationship. According to the author, young men and women enjoy their way of life without planning their life as husbands and fathers, wives and mothers. Challenging the consequences of the hook-up culture, Piderit engages the need for a lasting married life. For this, he proceeds with a natural law approach, investigating whether young adults can commit themselves to a meaningful married life. This book tries to convince young adults that sexual life is to be set aside for marriage, a lifelong partnership rather than a momentary relationship. As indicated in the preface, the author brings to bear 40 years of experience as a priest and of interaction with young people. The preface and even some of the chapters are dense and sometimes repetitive, yet most are practical and deeply related to young people of American culture. The book is divided into three parts, comprising 33 chapters, and is presented in a dramatic way, presenting two young people, Maria and Davies, who plan to marry.

College as Context: Influences on Interpersonal Sexual Scripts

Scripting theory (Gagnon and Simon in Sexual conduct: the social sources of human sexuality, Aldine, Chicago, 1973; Simon and Gagnon in Arch Sex Behav 13:97–120, 1986; Qual Sociol 26:491–497, 2003) is used to examine the impact of religion, gender, social class, and race as well as the college social environment on sexual interaction. Research has investigated how social networks and contexts shape sexual scripts. College campuses are important contexts for sexuality, locating students within peer networks and, given the emergence of a hookup culture, presenting them with multiple options for sexual behavior. Survey data collected from 614 students on two campuses revealed that many types of hooking up and sexual relationships are common. These intimate interactions are conceptualized as interpersonal scripts and classified as relational, recreational, or a combination of those scripts. Findings suggest that hooking up varies by gender, race, alcohol consumption, and perceptions of the hooking up behavior of close friends, but not by social class, Greek affiliation, religiosity, religious attendance, or perceptions of campus norms. Relationships vary only by perceptions of close friends’ participation in relationships. The implications of college as a social context for sexual scripts are discussed.

Hookup Sex Versus Romantic Relationship Sex in College: Why Do We Care and What Do We Do?

Hookup Sex Versus Romantic Relationship Sex in College: Why Do We Care and What Do We Do?

Peter Pan Goes to College

Today’s college students are a lot like Peter Pan—they are in no hurry to grow up. Young people are staying in school longer, and taking longer to become economically self-sufficient. They are also waiting longer to marry and start families. The college “hook-up culture” has emerged as a way for students to remain sexually active while avoiding long-term commitment and emotional entanglement. High-achieving young women, in particular, face social pressure to prioritize career development over relationships. Modern feminism has encouraged a singular focus on professional advancement. In terms of relational pursuits, young people are taking longer and longer to “grow up.”

A Cross-Cultural Content-Analytic Comparison of the Hookup Culture in U.S. and Dutch Teen Girl Magazines

This quantitative content analysis investigated the hookup culture in U.S. and Dutch teen girl magazines. Using Hofstede's cultural dimension of masculinity/femininity, the hookup culture (i.e., the relational context of sex, emotional context of sex, specific sexual activities, and contraceptives) was examined in 2,496 stories from all 2006 through 2008 issues of the three most popular U.S. (i.e., Seventeen, CosmoGirl! U.S. edition, and Teen) and Dutch teen girl magazines (i.e., Fancy, CosmoGirl! Netherlands edition, and Girlz!). Regarding the relational context of sex, stories about casual sex occurred more often in U.S. magazines, and Dutch magazines focused more on committed sex. Dutch magazines also emphasized sex within the emotional context of love more often than did U.S. magazines. In terms of sexual activities, coital sex was mentioned more often in U.S. coverage, while petting was mentioned more frequently in Dutch coverage. Condoms were covered more positively in U.S. magazines than in Dutch magazines. Overall, the hookup culture seems to be more visible in U.S. magazines for the occurrence of casual sex and lack of love stories, whereas it does not emerge in Dutch magazines due to the presence of committed sex and love-related articles.