College Dating vs. the Hook Up

Questions:
According to Risman and Schwartz article, what are the main trends in sexual activity among teens? How do the authors explain these trends? According to England and Thomas, what are the main trends in romantic and sexual behavior among college students? What gender differences are documented in both of these articles? Compare these authors' observations to your own high school and college experiences.


Risman and Schwartz discuss whether or not there has been a sexual counterrevolution in which teenagers have become more sexually conservative. Overall, teenagers seem to becoming gradually less sexually active. The percentage of students ages 15-17 that had had sex decreased from 54.1% in 1991 to 48.4% in 1997. They offer several reasons behind why this decrease occured, including the effect of sex education, the cultural backlash against the sexual revolution, and the fear of disease. The article states that this generation of girls is in some way trying to salvage their image following the sexual revolution "Youths looked at the carnage of their parents' generation-- divorce, disease, and a loss of status for women's choice to say no-- and decided to reestablish their power through less, not more, sexuality"(17). Teenage pregnancy decreased by 14%, andthe rate of sexually transmitted diseases declined throughout the 1990s as well. While this is the case, most people are sexually active by the time they are 20, those who aren't are considered "atypical", one out of four women and one out of five men. But casual sex has become less prevalent, usually sex takes place within some kind of relationship, no matter how you define relationship.

England and Thomas's article focuses on the death of "dating" and the evolution of the hook up. The road to relationships in college no longer begin by going on a date, but by hooking up. Most hook ups begin at parties, and are often fueled by alcohol consumption. One hook up can lead to a consistent "hooking up", which may then eventually lead to an exclusive relationship. A hook up usually begins with pure physical attraction, and after several hook ups, the couple may begin to have feelings for one another that aren't purely sexual. This is defined as "dating". Going on dates used to mark the beginning of a potential relationship, now they usually occur once a relationship is already formed.

Risner and Schwartz cite studies that say that the number of high school boys under the age of 18 have remained virgins have dramatically increased, while girls' behavior has not changed significantly. They claim that this has to do with the changing cultural norms for girls. Girls are most likely to have sex while in a relationship, causing boys to begin their "sexual lives" with a girlfriend. Girls have the ability to define sex as part of a relationship and have more control over the conditions in which it happens. Enlgand and Thomas's article talks about female liberation. It is more socially acceptable for women to do more sexually, but they have the right to say no. But at the same time, if she took it too far, she'll get stuck with a bad reputation. Woman are typically more inclined to turn a hook up into a relationship than men. Both articles state the existence of the double standard. Girls have to worry about being labeled promiscuous or a slut, while boys rarely have that problem.

I can relate my own college experiences, as well as my friends', to both of these articles. Hooking up is usually every single persons goal every weekend night, whether they voice that or not. Part of the appeal of alcohol is that it makes you a lot more easygoing and able to talk to the opposite sex, and potentially hook up with them. I actually have been on a couple dates since coming to college, but it is considered kind of weird to do that. Even in high school, going on dates was often really awkward and I don't really like them that much. Its much better to start a relationship with someone you're already comfortable with, which is often why friends end up hooking up with each other. It is definately true that girls are more relationship prone than boys. While a girl claims that a hook up could have been completely random, theres a good chance at one point or another she thought of it as a potentional relationship-type-thing. It seems that guys will try and consistently hook up with a girl for as long as they can before the girl brings up their relationship, and in most cases when that finally happens, they will end it. While on a lesser scale than in high school, and despite the size of the student body, there are girls and guys at BC that almost everyone knows/has labled as being sexually promiscuous.