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The female pursuit of sexual liberation blossomed in the 1960’s and continues to grow today. Beginning with what has been dubbed, “The Sexual Revolution”, women have become more comfortable with defying the dominant ideologies in society that have previously bound them. Among these beliefs is the concept that women should be modest with their bodies and forgo sexual pleasure. Likewise, the persistent barrage of a sexual double standard which praises boys for their sexual interactions but denounces women for similar behaviour creates a stigma around women who are confident in their sexualities. Despite the persistence of these attitudes in society, college students have begun to challenge the ideology that sexual interactions must be confined …show more content…
Although forty percent of college-aged students report having sexual intercourse once or never, the perception that hookups are prevalent amongst college students leaves individuals feeling pressured to conform to “the norm” (Zimmerman). The term “hookup” is an ambiguous term that can mean any physical behaviour from kissing to more sexual acts that occurs outside of the confines of a clear relationship. Hookups can occur once or repeatedly, but the primary difference between dating and hooking up is that there are fewer emotional expectations and the encounters are based around physical intimacy. It is difficult to ascertain as to what exactly hookups add to the college experience, but when approaching this issue from a sociological perspective, Robert Merton’s theory on manifest and latent functions sheds light on the potential role hooking up plays. Considered to be the intended purposes of college, manifest functions include job networking and technical skills. However, hookup culture is one of the latent- or unintended- functions. College can be viewed as a type of marriage market where students meet potential partners and determine what they do or do not want from a relationship. With more individuals delaying marriage, hooking up furthers this trend in society and also increases the average age for
Donna Freitas “Time to Stop Hooking Up. (You Know You Want to.)” First appeared as an editorial in the Washington Post in 2013. In this essay Freitas aims to convince her readers that hooking up may seem easy and less stress than a real relationship, but in reality they become unhappy, confused, and unfulfilled in their sex life. “Hookups are all about throwing off the bonds of relationships and dating for carefree sex” personal experience, compare and contrast are a few techniques Freitas skillfully uses to strong convincing essay.
Conor Kelly argues in her article, “Sexism in Practice: Feminist Ethics Evaluating the Hookup Culture” that the hookup culture is sexist and disempowers women. Although, he mentions it is difficult to define “hooking up” but majority of the students will agree that it involves “some level of sexual activity without the constraints and expectations of a relationship” (Kelly 65). In other words, when two people have casual sex with no strings attached, when they both finish they both can go on with their lives without
They base their findings on the National Health and Social Life Survey, which found that those born after 1942 were “more sexually active at younger ages” than those born from 1933-42, and the trend toward greater sexual activity among young people “appears to halt or reverse” among those born from 1963-72. In addition to these facts, an English survey of more than 14,000 students from 19 universities and colleges about their hookup, dating, and relationship experiences revealed that 72% of students experience a hookup at least once by their senior year in college, but hooking up hasn’t replaced committed relationships and is not a new concept to young adults. The evidence is convincing and shows that students often participate in both at different times during college (69% of heterosexual students participated in a relationship lasting at least 6 months by senior year as well.) Based on this, the amount of hookups and committed relationship by college students seems to even out over
Donna Freitas in The End of Sex gives her thoughts on how hookup culture is affecting specifically college students. Her judgment comes out of a space where she wants, “to empower them (participants in hookups) to seek the kinds of relationships they want…” (16). Though her perspective comes from a good place, her argument has points that are shaming, archaic, dismissive, and one sided. Her argument seems to be that of a pro-woman stance at times, neglecting one of the key feminism ideals of choice. Freitas uses patriarchal arguments to back up her ideas, tarnishing her perspectives that come off as woman empowering. The book, The End of Sex, neglects to be conscious of female independence
When you hear the term “hooking up” you generally think of a sexual encounter with a stranger, but as explained in the book Hooking Up: Dating, Sex, and Relationships on Campus by Kathleen Bogle, this is not the true definition of the term because there is no true definition of the word. Bogle effectively addresses the social issue of hooking up as well as accurately addresses the ambiguity of the term itself in her book as he goes through the history of dating and how things have progressively changed over the last 115 years as well as the atmosphere of the college campus and how it is ideal for hooking up. She moves into the actual hook up and what exactly that consists of, next into the biases between the sexes and then into relationships after college and how they differ from the ones in college.
Young adults in college typically are not looking for commitment, but rather a positive sexual experience. Two outlets for this preference are friends with benefits (FWB) and hookups. Hookups involve two people engaging in sexual activity with the foreknowledge that there are “no strings attached”. For people who actively avoid commitment, and emotional involvement hookups are preferential. This is because the two can engage in meaningless sex for the sake of pleasure. I remember once reading a New York Times article that calls hookups appealing because they are low cost, low investment engagements. Factors such as the false consensus effect, social media, and the modern collegian attitude influence the
Let’s talk about sex! Sex is primarily for the survival of our species. It satisfies our urge to reproduce and leave generational legacies on the world. Everyone does it; everyone is here because of it. Yet in society, it 's considered to be a taboo subject to discuss. Most people are uncomfortable openly talking about it, but those who do are often criticized because of their differences. As a result, the effects of the sex being such a private topic are more harmful than simply being open about it. However, in today’s society, it not that everyone cannot be open about their sexuality, it 's mostly unacceptable for women to be open, thus posing double standards on women. I wonder if the connotation of sex is a result of society’s morals
Hooking up was once used mostly when referring to your college days. But, scarily enough, it is now leaking into the young teen population. Newfound technology is allowing teens to meet for one reason and one reason only-casual sex. Many cases of these hookups going wrong are surfacing on the internet, and have horrific outcomes. Hookup culture is becoming more rampant with newfound teen dating apps, that are practically an open door way for sex. It’s harming the youth of today through forms of instant gratification and mind-numbing guilt. Not to mention physical dangers such as rape or a STD.
Kelly presents several interconnected elements to support his argument that the “Hookup” culture, commonly found on college campuses is morally problematic. Kelly defines a hookup as the practice of pursuing a sexual activity without any expectation of a relationship. He also provides four other requirements to help narrow down his definition of hookup culture. These requirements are, lack of commitment, acceptance of ambiguity, a role with alcohol, and social pressure to conform. These elements when paired with sexual activity outside of a relationship generate the potential for gender power struggle, abuse, manipulation and inequality.
Media showcase college as a huge frat party with loud music every hour, red plastic cup thrown on the ground, fraternity boy around every corner and SEX. Most adolescents' and young adults' enter college thinking they will only receive this experience and increase their sexual behaviors while being away from home. Hookups are common among the college community, typically freshman year. The young adults today views college as a place of freedom from all supervising adults; which means they will not have set curfews and rules to abide by. Hookups are sexual encounters between two individuals who are strangers, which only last for one night (Paul, McManus, and Hayes 2000:76). Hookups could be intercourse, oral sex, mutual masturbation, kissing,
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.
The reason that many students find casual sex appealing is the fact that it is wrong. We as human beings find the danger of doing some thing wrong intriguing. We are animals and are always testing our limits. Sex is an explored subject that is hushed as we are children growing up. We are taught that is not to be talked about and that we should always have boundaries before we practice this interesting, yet provocative action. As college students we are free from all authority and we tend to explore these new actions. Our animal instincts kick in and we are soon experiencing new emotions and feelings that we end up succumbing to under different circumstances. We explore all the different things that we are shunned away from as children and are able to do so without any authority telling us other wise. Our boundaries are set free and then we are dealt with the choice of emotional sex or casual sex. Most people do not see the emotional side of sex until they become older. As college s...
Rhoads Steven. Hookup Culture: The High Costs of a Low Price for Sex”. Society Dec 2012:
“Many campuses, for instance, are dominated by the hook-up culture of casual sex.” -Freitas, Donna Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008 Living this lifestyle in no way prepares the students mind for higher education or enables them to focus the next day in class. The students in the modern university are morally corrupt and hardened to sin. The culture of carefree sex is promoted by the university, which often gives out protection and advice for safe sex. “Scruton describes this lifestyle from a parents point of view. “Finding that his daughter’s ignorance of the classics is as great on leaving university as it was on entering it, that she has graduated from her teenage pop idols only to immerse herself in more “advanced” forms of rock and heavy metal, and that her attitude to career, marriage, childbearing, and all the other things that he had hoped for her is entirely negative, such a father is sure to regret the use of his money.”-Scruton The Idea of a University 2011 He describes the useless degrees and corrupt lifestyle received through the university, all with a high price. The modern university is corrupt and is ripe for
Historically, research on sexuality has been driven by a public health agenda, which is overshadowed by moral panic and bad outcomes of adolescent sexuality (i.e. STIs, unintended pregnancy, etc.). This perpetuated widespread abstinence policies in institutions in which adolescents were involved. This heteronormative and patriarchal society rested upon the assumption that women were gatekeepers of insatiable male sexuality and that frankly, boys will be boys.