Sex is a prominent part of modern society, it is used everywhere, media, advertising, communication, etc. Younger generations are constantly bombarded with sexual innuendos, the objectifying of women, pressure from both sexes to act a certain way and hold a certain attitude towards sex. Even if we do not partake in these actions it is nearly impossible to escape the attitudes of these new standards. The way we think about sex is changing.
The Sexual Whee is an ongoing column discussing sexual issues like these, such as sexism, sexual orientation, safe sex, casual sex, sexual violence and other topics that our generation face. Please email your questions or comments to sexualwhee@gmail.com. I will be responding and publishing these discussions in our newspaper, in order to further the dialogue and awareness of sex.
Today on college campuses sex is as common as asking your friend if you want to grab coffee later. Casual sex among college campuses is often referred to as “hooking up.” In an interview with Kathleen A. Bogle on CNN she stated, “hooking up is any sexual act between two partners with no strings attached.” Bogle is the author of Hooking Up, Dating, and Relationships on Campus. In her novel Bogle discusses this shift to a new sexual culture in the millennia generation. Her research shows that most college student have or do partake in hooking up. How strange it is to hear hooking up used in such a formal description. I was familiar with this phrase, before reading these articles, granted I never used that exact definition. As the interview continues, the interviewer states she thought hooking up was when you say hooked up with your girlfriends to go out. This is a good example of how different attitudes towards sex are depending on your generation.
Another book I stumbled across was Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp, the description below read as follows, “Stepp chronicles this phenomenon in her new book Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both.” She makes statements in her novel such as women should spend less time trying to have sex and try other outlets like baking cookies. When I read this I could not believe it, had we regressed sixty years was my thought. Not anywhere in her book did Stepp say that instead of hooking up women should focus on their education and careers. Furthermore she does not discuss the male perspective of hooking.
This attitude towards casual sex can be positive and negative. Staying single until you are older can be healthy because you grow into yourself and are independent. Patriarchs like young marriage because they have complete control over their wife since she never had time to become her own individual thus making her completely reliant on her male counterpart. When you are independent, dating is easier because you do not rely on your partner. When young women and men become involved in deep, monogamous relationships there has not been enough time to develop without them, thus making it harder to leave and putting pressure on both partners because there is a sense of not knowing how to live without them.
Casual Sex has become the norm on college campuses, we all know what hooking up is and have most likely tried it a time or two. However the questions are still raised, is hooking up good or bad? How do men and women react to casual sex and what standards have been set for sexes? Is casual sex healthy? Cont, in next issue.
Let me know what you think at sexualwhee@gmail.com
