Hooking Up : Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus by Kathleen Bogle (e book reader android txt) 📗

is the subject of much debate. However, most scholars agree that there was a discernible change in sexual behavior. In other words, sexual intercourse prior to marriage was no longer taboo but was becoming the norm for both women and men.55 Along with the increase in sexual intercourse prior to marriage came an increase in other avenues of sexual expression for heterosexuals. Sexual acts that had previously been reserved for marriage (and after intercourse had taken place) were integrated into earlier “bases” of the sexual script.56 Specifically, oral sex became an increasingly common element of the sexual script throughout the second half of the twentieth century, particularly among well-educated whites.57 Thus, the sexual possibilities for unmarried heterosexuals were expanding.

A second source of cultural change that could be relevant to the emergence of the hookup culture is the women’s movement. Feminism has fundamentally affected the roles available to men and women in many aspects of life, including the areas of relationships and family.58 In addition to the variety of roles and choices available to men and women in adult life, there are also more choices available to boys and girls throughout their childhood and young adulthood. This seems particularly true in the area of sexuality. Feminists have promoted the idea that women should be free to be sexual both in and out of marriage and that not only “bad” girls like sex.59 Furthermore, feminists have challenged 22

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the idea that only men can pursue women. Thus, the interjection of feminist ideals into our culture has changed the way men and women interact and relate to one another. Some of these changes in the “rules” for how men and women should behave have likely contributed to the hookup script emerging on the college campus. In other words, gender politics affect sexual politics.60

Fueled by changes occurring throughout the culture, American youth by the mid-1960s had “come increasingly to value the expression of personal choice” rather than “conforming to adult expectations.”61

One manifestation of this rise in individualism was college students rebelling against the in loco parentis system. Throughout the twentieth century, most colleges and universities had many rules designed to control sexual behavior. For example, there were separate dormitories, strict curfews (particularly for women), visitation was heavily monitored, and overnight stays in one’s room by someone of the opposite sex was forbidden.62 College administrators were deemed responsible for their students’ behavior, particularly toward the opposite sex, and their task became increasingly challenging as more single-sex institutions became coeducational.63 Ultimately, students prevailed in the battle with administrators over privacy and sexual freedom. Student-conduct policies, such as those mentioned above, declined along with other changes sweeping the country in the 1960s and 1970s. Most college campuses today allow virtually unrestricted access to the opposite sex.64 Furthermore, the idea that the university administration is responsible for their students’ sexual behavior has changed. Instead of focusing on sexual behavior per se, universities have shifted their resources to warning students about sexual assault and sexually transmitted diseases.

In addition to the cultural changes underway during the 1960s, a number of demographic trends are relevant to understanding why hooking up emerged and formal dating declined on college campuses.

First, there has been an increase in the median age at first marriage in the United States.65 Currently, the median age for first marriage is approximately 25 for women and 27 for men. This contrasts with 1960, when the median age at first marriage was approximately 20 for women and 23 for men.66 Thus, the number of people getting married during their college years or immediately after has sharply declined in the past 40 years.

Despite this delay in marriage, on average young men and women become sexually active by age 17.67 These demographic realities are relevant to the sexual script on the college campus because now young F RO M DAT I N G TO H O O K I N G U P

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co-eds are under less pressure to find a spouse during their college years, yet they are sexually active. Therefore, they have plenty of time to “play the field” before settling down with a lifelong mate.68 This creates a situation where it is possible to spend one’s college years in more casual relationships than may have been the case earlier in the twentieth century.

Another trend that is likely to be relevant to the emergence of the hookup era is the dramatic increase in women attending college. By 1972, three times as many women were attending college than there had been just twelve years earlier in 1960.69 Today, women far outnumber men on many college campuses in the United States. In fact, currently there are approximately 80 men for every 100 women enrolled in college.70 Compared to the dating era, men are now a scarce resource on campus. The imbalance in the sex ratio is likely to particularly affect campuses with a high residential population, where social interaction is primarily with fellow students. For college men in the hookup era, there seems to be power in lack of numbers. In other words, if there are not enough men to go around, the ones who are there have greater power to determine what suits their needs when it comes to interacting with the opposite sex. Therefore, women may have had to adapt to a script that is particularly beneficial to some college men.

These interrelated changes, in the culture and demographics of 1960s society, paved the way for a change in the dating script. Although no one can pinpoint a moment in time when students stopped dating as the primary means of getting together with the opposite sex and started hooking up, there is evidence that the shift was likely well underway by the 1970s.71 The next step is to take a more in-depth look at the hookup script. With the two major twentieth-century scripts, calling and dating, as a backdrop, I will next present the experiences of college students