Published on July 7, 2011 by Goal Auzeen Saedi, Ph.D. in Millennial Media
Flipping through television channels
and scanning news headlines, one often comes upon the occurrence of
random hookups and resulting breakups. Disconcerting is the actual
phenomenon of hooking up as a behavior that is being touted as socially
normative. Whether it is an episode of Grey's Anatomy, or the intimate
lives of politicians, the issue of sexual deviancy is one that
simultaneously intrigues audiences and often befuddles researchers and
clinicians. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis' latest film, "Friends
With Benefits," is certainly a nod to this new "trend," as was Natalie
Portman and Ashton Kutcher's "No Strings Attached".
Hookups
are generally defined as casual sexual encounters that may or may not
include intercourse and typically occur during a singular occasion
between strangers or recently met acquaintances. A unique feature of
hookups is that there is no expectation of future romantic commitment.
It is closely related to the concept of "friends with benefits" with
respect to the element of commitment. Unsurprisingly, many studies of
college student hookups have focused on the role of alcohol. Alcohol
use has been suggested to covary with college student high-risk sexual
behavior, and has also been linked to greater intent to locate sexual
partners and higher numbers of sexual partners (Gute & Eshbough,
2008). Further, the greatest factor leading to unwanted sexual
intercourse is impaired judgment due to
alcohol (Flack et al., 2007).
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In 2010, Duke University social scientists conducted one of
the largest studies of college student sexual behavior to date, randomly
surveying nearly 1500 students in an attempt to better understand the
culture of hooking up. Among their findings were that roughly one-third
of students were in committed relationships, one-third engaged in
hookups, while another third engaged in neither behavior (Booher, 2010).
However, other estimates have put the figure of hookups at much
higher, with 78% of students engaging in them (Paul, McManus, &
Hayes, 2000), although estimates may vary as a function of the
definition of hookups being used by researchers (i.e., kissing vs.
intercourse). As many as 23% of women, and 7% of men report hooking up
resulting in unwanted intercourse, and 78% of unwanted sexual encounters
occurring during a hookup (Flack et al., 2007).
While the mass media often promulgates the message of hookups freeing women from
gender role
stereotypes
in an attempt to liberate them, the emotional toll of such behaviors is
rarely explored. We have seen the image many times over. The morning
after a one-night stand, many a female awakens glowing and with a
perfectly tousled appeal. Yet, some research suggests otherwise. In
addition to the higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted
infections, or being the victim of sexual assault, for many, an unwanted
sexual encounter results in a variety of
stress
responses, including numbing and avoidance responses and hyperarousal
(Flack et al., 2007). As some researchers have put it, "men are
rewarded for sexual prowess and experience, whereas women are shamed for
these....As a result, hooking up may lead to short-term psychological
distress for women" (p. 4, Fielder & Carey, 2010). As for the
long-term effects, no studies have been found to explore this.So what predicts a "hookup"? The jury is still out. Theories range from the individual to sociocultural influences. Social
cognitive
theories suggest the important role of shaping that takes place on
multiple simultaneous levels; for many, a salient intimate relationship
is modeled by parents' relationships, whereas a college setting may
provide an immediate social context, and messages from the mass media
many encompass a larger socially dominant sphere that provide norms on
sexual behavior (Fielder & Carey, 2010). When alcohol is added into
the equation, a number of factors emerge as predicting high risk sexual
behaviors, including
sensation seeking, impulsivity, proneness toward social deviance, and the inability toward tolerating boredom (Gute & Eshbaugh, 2008).
While
some have suggested hookups to be common among high achieving and
career-minded women, who have little time to invest in committed
relationships, (as cited in Fielder & Carey, 2010), one wonders
about the ultimate consequences of frequent casual sexual behaviors. A
new crop of films such as "The Switch," featuring Jennifer Aniston and
"The Back-up Plan," featuring Jennifer Lopez show independent women
seeking motherhood through insemination procedures, refusing to wait
around for the ideal man to appear. The message here appears to be
fulfillment through motherhood which many women seek. It is being
portrayed positively, depicting women as strong and self-sufficient.
Yet,
one also wonders what positive message emerges from the image of the
woman seeking sexual liberation above all? For example, in the film
"All About Steve," Sandra Bullock, portraying a quirky smart crossword
puzzle writer, wastes no time on a first date, disrobing and straddling
the man in his car parked in her parent's driveway before the date has
even started. Such displays of sexual urgency and desperation have
clear implications for young adults and a culture that is coming to
normalize hooking up. However, it appears that the problem can in some
ways be reduced down to the highly skewed norm being portrayed in the
media that is not indicative of society at large.In a
fascinating study on hooking up and pluralistic ignorance, researchers
showed that both men and women showed less comfort with the perceived
norm of hooking up than they thought was experienced by same-sex peers.
Both genders believed the other gender to be more comfortable with
hooking up than either gender actually reported (Lambert, Kahn, &
Apple, 2003). Thus it appears that ultimately, in the case of hooking
up, the media's portrayal is a far cry from reality. Instead, it is
promoting harmful messages that are hazardous to the physical and mental
well-being of the public.
References
Booher, B. (2010).
Sex, love, and celibacy. Duke Magazine.
Fielder,
R.L., & Carey, M.P. (2010). Predictors and consequences of sexual
"hookups" among college students: A short prospective study. Archives
of Sexual Behavior, 39, 1105-1119.
Flack, W.F., Daubman, K.A.,
Caron, M.L., Asadorian, J.A., D'Aureli, N.R., Gigliotti, S.N., Hall,
A.T., Kiser, S., & Stine, E.R. (2007). Risk factors and
consequences of unwanted sex among university students: Hooking up,
alcohol, and stress response. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22,
139-157.
Gute, G. & Eshbaugh, E.M. (2008).
Personality as a predictor of hooking up among college students. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 25, 26-43.
Lambert, T.A., Kahn, A.S., Apple, K.J. (2003). Pluralistic ignorance and hooking up. Journal
of Sex Research, 40, 129-133.
*A portion of this article previously appeared in
The Amplifier Spring/Summer 2011 issue
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