Occidental Attracted to Hookup Culture

292

Author: Lauren Siverly

“It’s kinda gross. Because we’re so small, everyone’s been in each other’s mouths,” Carlos Vivaldo (first-year) said.

Regarding the prevalence of casual hook-ups on campus, this blunt disclosure is one that many Occidental students can relate to. With a socially active student population substantially smaller than that of neighboring Eagle Rock High School, it’s no surprise that social life on campus includes situations like those dreaded and all-too-frequent awkward Marketplace run-ins and inopportune moments of unwanted eye-contact in the Quad.

Though the “hook-up culture” on campus seems as second-nature to college students as procrastination, this casual form of interaction was not always the norm on college campuses. Many factors have influenced the transition from the dating to hook-up lifestyle of young adults. Though often overlooked, these revised social standards can have consequences that extend much further than a poorly timed, uncomfortable moment in line waiting for the tasty Homestyle dish of the day.

Hooking up seems about as common as doing laundry these days, and there are many contributing factors to the popularity of the social practice. Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ) professor Jeffrey Tobin said, “I think part of the explanation has to do with the return of drinking as being the center of college social life. There is a strong connection between hooking up and drinking.”

Aside from alcohol, factors such as the availability of texting and other forms of instant communication, as well as the freedom of college that allows students to dictate their own behavior, encourage casual hook-ups. Students exercise their new-found liberty in a multitude of ways, from skipping out on vegetables to partying to having copious amounts of sex. Living in dorms allows students to make their own decisions without worrying about the

Lisa Gilliland (first-year) said, “There’s a lot less judgment when you hook up with someone.”

At a secular school like Occidental, students are also free from rules that are imposed at other private schools, such as Westmont College in Santa Barbara, where all incoming students must sign a conduct code that prohibits “drunkenness” and explains in their student handbook that “premarital intercourse … and conduct promoting such intimacy (e.g., nudity, lying in bed together) is unacceptable behavior” and grounds for expulsion.

Often, busy, motivated students feel they don’t have enough time for dating. For example, professor Tobin said, “We have a generation of ‘super-girls’ deciding which extracurriculars to do in order to get into college and then grad school … [they] are goal- and career-oriented. All this focus on career is accompanied by ideas that relationships are a waste of time. They think, ‘Who has time for worrying about emotions when you’re doing an internship?'”

These “super-girls” are common at Occidental. In high school, they work hard to get to college and, once here, the work ethic does not change. Now their focus is graduate school or a career. And balancing high aspirations, a full academic schedule, leadership positions for various clubs and an on-campus job leaves little time for a dedicated relationship.

Obviously, dating in college takes a very different form than it does either in high school or after college. Many students lack cars, so going somewhere special is often a difficult task. Additionally, many fit under the “poor college student” umbrella. Students work, but the majority of their earnings go toward tuition. So when dinner and a movie can amount to $50 a date, even going out once a week is an expense that most college students simply cannot afford.

Plus, according to Gilliland, “Simply being alone with someone while watching a movie often leads to hooking up, even if it’s not what both of the people intended when the night began.”

For many college students, traditional dates have become irrelevant when a hook-up can satisfy sexual desires without the hassle.

“I feel like the fact that we all live together makes hook-ups the most likely plan of action. They’re just more convenient,” Gilliland said.

Alexa Olson (first-year) agreed. “It also makes the relationships that do exist more intense because you’re so close all the time.”

At college, the only person you have to worry about walking in on you is your roommate, but awkward situations can be easily avoided with a precautionary text message. Roommates may gripe about being “sexiled,” but most of the time they will leave you alone.

No matter the motivation for hooking up, the many associated consequences of doing so differ between men and women.

Ethan Currie (first-year) said, “There is a clear double standard when it comes to men and women hooking up on campus.”

The double standard he refers to is the idea that men are applauded while women are judged for equivalent sexual endeavors. These ideas help explain the ambiguity of “hooking up.”

Tobin cited research by Dr. Kathleen Bogle, author of “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus,” which claims that hooking up is a  deliberately vague term.  “Men can seem like they did more than they really did … while women can explain that they ‘just hooked up’ and seem like they did less than they really did,” he explained.

David Weightman (first-year) said the root of the problem lies not with men alone. “Girls are much more responsible for the double standard than guys are.”

A line from “Mean Girls” sums it up. Speaking to the girls of her school, Tina Fey’s character, Ms. Norbury, says, “You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.”

Tobin argues that the idea of the “super-girl” is associated with a new kind of women’s liberation or, rather, confusion about feminism. “These young women confuse women’s liberation with making themselves into sex objects and then claiming that they ‘own their own sexuality,'” he said.

Still, this point of view only comes from the idea that women are only hooking up to please the guy they are with. Women on this campus are fiercely independent; they recognize that they don’t need a man to do extraordinary things with their lives. They also recognize that a casual hook-up can be as enjoyable for them as it is for a man.

However, the fun that comes with hooking up can become dangerous when participants don’t bother to use a condom. In a recent interview published on YouTube with Kiely Williams (former Cheetah Girl gone raunchy), the star counsels a teenage girl confused about whether she should have sex or not. Williams’ advice? “Sex is easy. Babies are not. Sex is fun. Herpes is not.”

While Williams’ message is easily mocked, it is an important one. Estimates from the Center for Disease Control suggest that “even though young people aged 15–24 years represent only 25% of the sexually experienced population, they acquire nearly half of all new STDs.”

Tobin said the statistic applies to Occidental. “Students report how infrequent condom usage is. They have this idea that fellow students are safer and that they are less likely to contract an STD than from a random stranger they meet at a bar.”

This irrational reasoning leads to rampant STD transmission on college campuses. It is exacerbated by the fact that many STDs are asymptomatic, so you can’t just “look and see.”

Most college students ignore or underestimate the risks associated with oral sex. Herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HPV can all be transmitted through oral sex. In fact, HPV can cause throat cancer in infected individuals.

“Student culture has decided that … unprotected oral sex with a fellow student is OK,” Tobin said.

Between oral sex and intercourse, lack of protection is all too common on campus. Tobin associates this with the idea that “because hookups don’t mean anything, they can’t hav
e life-changing consequences.”

This logic is obviously flawed, but in a sexually charged atmosphere, it is easy — and dangerous — to forget.

While on a campus tour as a high school junior or senior, you may have heard your tour guide recite the statistic that 60 percent of Occidental grads marry each other. While the actual percentage varies widely with who is giving it, there seems to be a common expectation that many of us will leave Occidental dating our future wife or husband.

Professor Tobin said this is a myth. “I think the reason we go on repeating this statistic is that it is reassuring to students that love and marriage exist as a possibility.”

It tells us that in the midst of all the meaningless sexual encounters, maybe one day, one will develop into something more. Perhaps this “common expectation” has developed into a far too unrealistic one. It is important to consider how this cultural shift will affect life after college.

Will hook-ups inevitably push people away from monogamy or are they helping people discover what they will eventually want in a long-term relationship?

Only time will tell how the casual, hook-up lifestyle will impact relationships in the future.

 

This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.

Loading

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here