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Hooking Up as an Individualistic Practice: A Double-Edged Sword for College Women

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Abstract

An increasingly large body of literature on the casual sex practice, hooking up, has documented that it tends to yield a wide range of positive and negative outcomes for college women. However, no research exists that provides an integrated explanation of these divergent outcomes. One recent influential attempt to highlight the benefits of hooking up for college women has implied that the individualistic character of the practice facilitates these positive outcomes. By contrast, the research here illuminates how the costs of hooking up can also be the result of its individualism (in addition to the commonly identified cause of gender inequality). The article presents the results of in-depth qualitative interviews with 30 college women from diverse backgrounds concerning their hookup experiences. The data suggest that the individualistic norms of hooking up (in combination with gender inequality) may be core contributors to the problems women can experience in the practice. Thus, the research identifies the individualism of hooking up as a “double-edged sword” for college women, potentially facilitating the costs, not just the benefits. It is claimed that this discovery contributes to a more holistic perspective than currently exists concerning the effects of hooking up on young women.

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Notes

  1. This article and its research focus on the United States, which is where the author is based. Studying the hook-up culture in the US enables a strong contextualization of these findings within the relevant literature because much of the recent research on hooking up is located in North America. Whether the practice actually is more common or popular in the US is a worthy topic for further research, but it is beyond the scope of this work.

  2. Research on the effects of hooking up on young women’s mental health and psychological well-being has been inconclusive. A number of studies have found associations between hooking up and indicators of poor mental health (e.g., lower self-esteem, depressive symptomology, suicidal ideation) but research is mixed on whether diminished psychological well-being is an antecedent to or consequence of hooking up for women (Bersamin et al. 2013; Eisenberg et al. 2009; Fielder and Carey 2010; Grello et al. 2006; Grello et al. 2003; Monahan and Lee 2008; Paul et al. 2000).

  3. One notable exception is that women who were highly religious were much more critical of hookup culture and largely did not participate in it compared to less religious women. However, this group difference is not relevant to the current analysis which focuses exclusively on those subjects who were hookup culture participants.

  4. Supporting this observation, the nation-wide study cited previously, found that almost half of women and over a third of men reported having interest in a romantic relationship following a hookup (England et al. 2008).

  5. It is worth noting that their sample was drawn solely from the female occupants of one residence hall known to be a “party” dorm on a Midwestern campus. Many of the working class women appeared to come from rural backgrounds, suggesting that the particular types of class difference in this sample may have been strongly regionally influenced.

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Acknowledgments

Special acknowledgment is due to Jonathan Martin for his insights and support in the development of this manuscript. Thanks also to Robin Ohringer for her helpful comments.

Conflict of interest

The author of this article, Meg Lovejoy, declares that she has no conflict of interest. I have full control of all primary data, and I will allow Sexuality and Culture to review the data if necessary.

Ethical standard

This article is based on research I completed for my doctoral dissertation at Brandeis University. My thesis research was fully approved by the Brandeis Institutional Review Board. All research participants gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in this study.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Welfare, Augustana College, Carlson-Evald Hall, 639 38th St., Rock Island, IL, 61202, USA

    Meg C. Lovejoy

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Correspondence to Meg C. Lovejoy.

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Lovejoy, M.C. Hooking Up as an Individualistic Practice: A Double-Edged Sword for College Women. Sexuality & Culture 19, 464–492 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9270-9

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