Todays Youth: Hookup Culture

Walk into any college bar in America and chances are you will immediately notice a few of the same things: couples flirting, couples kissing, couples dancing provocatively couples everywhere. You will not immediately realize, however, that the majority of these paired off college students arent actually couples at all; in this day and age, it is more likely that the students you see flirting, kissing and dancing are just hooking up, or planning on it. Americas youth is undergoing drastic changes in dating habits and the ways they view romantic relationships. According to Dr. Lisa Wade, sociology department chair at Occidental College, hooking up has largely replaced dating and relationships on today's college campuses. Wade has made literary contributions to numerous publications about the sexuality of Americas youth. In one of these publications, Hooking Up and Opting Out: What Students Learn About Sex in their First Year of College, she defines a hookup as a non-romantic encounter with a friend or acquaintance that involves an unspecified degree of sexual interaction. According to the same publication, research indicates that 67 to 75 percent of students hook up at least once during college, and less than half of students express an interest in starting a relationship with their most recent hook-up partner. In contrast with previous generations, Wade explains, college students today participate in more sexual activities with more partners, and they experience less emotional intimacy. There are a number of factors that contribute to this change in dating culture. One factor, Wade argues, is the medias portrayal of relationships and sexuality. She calls this the pornification of mass media, and argues that societys current raunch culture celebrates sexually explicit images and themes, encouraging young women to participate in their own sexual objectification. The sexual objectification Wade speaks of is evident on television, in magazines and in music; more and more frequently, women are defined as sex objects by the media. Take Timbalands song Carry Out, for example: lyrics like Take my order 'cause your body like a carry out, dehumanize women to the point that theyre seen as food that can be ordered to go. Sean McGuire, a junior at the University of Maryland, associates this negative portrayal of women with a general acceptance of, and perhaps even a desire for, promiscuity.

Recently, music has started focusing on sex, and women are almost only described on a physical level, McGuire said. Guys listen to these songs and it makes them want the same things; hot girls to have sex with. Now, rather than wanting to commit to relationships on an emotional level, many people seek only sex. Rutgers University conducted a study to determine why men today are less inclined to commit to marriage, and found the number one reason to be that they can get sex without marriage more easily now than in times past. The same can likely be said about relationships; if a relationship isnt necessary for sex, it isnt necessary at all. Wades research supports this hypothesis. She explains that dating is no longer a socially sanctioned option, and that the rise of todays hookup culture is closely connected with the existence and acceptance of alternative sexual cultures. Modern technology is another factor contributing to our growing hookup culture. Christine Rosen, senior editor of the New Atlantis, published an article titled Romance in the Information Age about the relationship between modern technology and todays dating habits. According to Rosen, the ability to communicate via the Internet and text messaging eliminates the necessity for courtship by weakening the boundaries that were once essential for the growth of a successful relationship. In addition, social networking websites provide never-ending opportunities to meet new people, which causes forming a relationship with one person to be less desirable. Increased use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, according to University of Maryland sophomore Jordan Finci, vastly increases individuals dating pools. The appeal of being able to communicate with and stay in touch with so many people lets us explore many more types of people and relationships before committing to one person and one lifestyle, Finci said. Because its becoming easier than ever to meet new people, college students prefer exploring their options to settling down. Society used to encourage people to get married at a young age, but marriage is something most of todays college students havent even begun to think about, and Wade suggests that students may be putting off establishing monogamous relationships until they are ready to begin searching for a marriage partner. The notion that young people date to have fun rather than to find a lifelong partner is supported by data gathered by the United States Census Bureau, which states that the median age for first marriage is the highest it has been since the Census Bureau first began collecting data: 26-years-old for women and 28-years-old for men in 2010. Philip Cohen, graduate director of sociology at the University of Maryland, says people

are getting married later because there is less of a need for marriage. There are more options for women of this generation, and theres less of a need economically to get married at a young age, he said. Waiting to get married is also more accepted today than it used to be. Changing societal norms encourage women to focus on their careers, whereas in the past it was considered taboo for a woman to reach a certain age without getting married and having children. Wades research suggests that class-privileged women prefer hooking up because it allows them to experiment with sex without forming relationships that could interfere with their career plans. Alex Walker, a junior at the University of Maryland, has a different idea about why college students seem to be so disinterested in thinking about marriage: he believes the disinterest is related to the unsuccessful marriages of students parents. According to the National Center on Health Statistics, the divorce rate in America is approximately 50 percent of the marriage rate. When people watch their parents or their friends parents go through a divorce, it makes them never want to experience something like that, Walker said. College students dont want to think about serious relationships because they dont want to think about marriage, and they dont want to think about marriage because they dont want to get divorced. Whatever the reason, students today are no longer concerned with finding a spouse, and as the need to commit to one person fades, so do our old views about dating and relationships. The result is a general acceptance by Americas current generation of college students of a new culture based on flings and hookups. McGuire summed up what appears to be the general attitude of most college students today in saying, I personally dont think Ill be getting married anytime soon, so whats the point of having anything more than a fling?