Anastasia Hanonick , Copy Editor February 28, Grace Dunlavy. In recent years casual sexual encounters, also known as hookup culture, has gained vast popularity in the United States. With the sudden emergence of this new cultural trend, one demographic appeared to be implementing it most: college students. An article written by Justin Garcia and colleagues aimed to explain why college students were the most accepting of this phenomenon.
The results concluded that the reason young adults resort to hookup culture is because the average ages of marriage and reproduction have been dramatically pushed back, while the age of puberty dropped. Subsequently, this presents an opportunity for people to engage in sexual acts for their sole benefit, often without a desire or expectation of a romantic relationship. Additionally, the easy accessibility of dating apps plays a significant role in the popularization of hookup culture; platforms such as Tinder or Bumble grant almost instant access to potential sexual partners by being free of charge and readily available to users.
One may start to wonder what the moral implications of this new cultural shift are. Does the societal acceptance of hook-up culture represent an era of destigmatizing uncommitted sex, or does it normalize taking advantage of others in the pursuit of sexual intimacy?
Upon conducting multiple surveys and writing a novel on the topic, Wade found that approximately one third of the students she surveyed reported their casual sexual relationships being traumatic or very difficult to handle. Most participants reported their encounters to be very disappointing, while one in ten reported that they have been sexually coerced or assaulted by their sexual partner in the past year. Her study concluded that only about a quarter of students thrive in hookup culture, at least at first.
This, she highlights, is reflected in the rather abrupt normalization of this phenomenon, especially within the demographic. Her proposed solution is for institutions to take action by offering substantial resources in creating a narrative shift which will promote casual sexual encounters being built on the ethic of care and boundaries, and not on benefiting at the expense of others. Regardless of its nature, an essential component to any healthy dynamic is emotional maturity and willingness to have open and honest conversations.
