Hook-Up Culture

Hook-up culture encourages casual sexual intimacy such as one-night stands and other encounters without fostering emotional connection or commitment. It promotes not having feelings, and it noramlizes seuxla pressure.

Defining "Hook-Up"
The term hook-up is used to refer to many different types of sexual encounters: some, including Herbert Helm, Stephanie, Gondra, and Duane McBridge, understand hook-ups as a "one-time sexual encounter between individuals that had no plans to even talk afterwards, let alone repeat the experiences," while others understand hook-ups as meaning a sexual encounter with someone not seen as a significant other. Men engage in more hook-up behavior than women. This may be because there is a societal idea that women should only have sex in relationships. Women are told that they should be wanted by men in hook-up culture, and then they are shamed for having sex. Further, working class students are less likely to engage in hook-up culture because they do not take for granted that they will graduate and they focus more on their studies. Thus, hook-up culture is dominated by people with money.

Hook-Ups on College Campuses
There is a perception that hook-up culture is particularly prevelent on American college campuses. Hook-ups are now the norm for heterosexual relationships on college campuses, but this norm may be more of a perception than actually grounded in reality. In a study conducted by Helm et. al, members of both sexes thought the other one was more comfortable with hook-up culture than what was actually reported. Not as many people in hook-up culture are having sexual relations as people think others are.

Hook-up culture is anxiety-inducing for many, as expectations are always murky and unclear. Additionally, hook-up culture positions individuals in competition with each other for the attention of their desired sex.