I’ve been incredibly lucky to have the pleasure of giving public lectures on hook up culture at several colleges and universities. I draw on my research in these talks, but I also always give a shout out to Paula England, a sociologist who has collected tens of thousands of surveys from students at dozens of schools. My talk would be a shadow of itself if I couldn’t draw on her excellent work. Accordingly, I’m pleased to be able to feature England giving a presentation about what she has discovered about hook up culture. I suspect that you’ll be surprised, no matter who you are:
For more on hook up culture, see my 3-minute appearance on MTV Canada or my 40-minute talk at Franklin & Marshall College (slideshow and transcript if you’d rather read).
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 8
jadehawk — February 15, 2012
huh. acquaintances tell me that European youth is taking up American-style "dating", and now I'm learning that American youth are abandoning it for the casual system I'm familiar with from my youth in Europe? Fascinating.
Kat — February 16, 2012
Well... in my book people who make out/hook up with other people soon (a few days) after they did the same with another person are a complete jerk (male or female). I have never understood this "are we exclusive" stuff described. At least not if it means that in between you hooked up with other people. I'm not American and where I'm from a distinction is made in vocabulary: There is one time for a hook up involving only kissing, another for "more" and for intercourse we just say "one night stand", so intercourse is excluded in a different category.
Anna — February 16, 2012
Based on the posts by Kat and Jadehawk, I wonder if the fact that I'm not American is why I have such a hard time grasping hook-up culture, even when presented with statistics such as these. Perhaps the researchers could also preface their research by further clarifying how hook up culture differs from previously existing frameworks regarding sex, relationships, and the like among youth in America.
To be honest, I've never understood dating culture in America that much either, such as Kat's example of making exclusiveness "official". It is so different from how my European peers "hook up" and "date" - and yes, I realize that is a very problematic, broad generalization, and that there are tons of differences among European countries; maybe someone can offer a less broad alternative.
Max Hell — February 19, 2012
I find the argument and the numbers on female orgasms hard to believe. On this topic, there is a very instructive ABC Radio National program on the neuroscience and the psychology of sex. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/all-in-the-mind-10th-anniversary-special-1-getting/3688966
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