No hooking up, no sex for some coeds

[Gingersnap]

No hooking up, no sex for some coeds

By Stephanie Chen, CNN

April 19, 2010 9:07 a.m. EDT

Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) -- Almost every weekend, there is a tradition called raging at Vanderbilt University.

It's a recurring, drunken activity that isn't the proudest moment for student Frannie Boyle. After consuming large quantities of alcohol before a party, her night would sometimes end in making out with a stranger or acquaintance.

Casual hook ups fueled by alcohol may be the norm across college campuses, but Boyle, now a 21-year-old junior at the school, chose to stop. Her reasons to quit hooking up echo the emotional devastation of many college students, particularly girls whose hearts are broken by the hook-up scene.

"I saw it [hooking up] as a way to be recognized and get satisfaction," said Boyle, shaking her blond ponytail. "I felt so empty then."

The hook-up culture on campuses may seem more pervasive than ever, especially as media outlets, books and documentaries rush to dissect the subject, but some college women and men are saying no.

Some, like Boyle, experimented with hooking up and quit. Though she is Catholic, she says her reason for disengaging herself from the hook-up culture had more to do with the unhappiness she experienced afterward. Others influenced by religion have abstained from casual physical activity from the moment they set foot on campus.

The idea of rejecting hook-ups may not be as strange as it sounds in a generation surrounded by sex. Pop star Lady Gaga recently announced she was celibate and encouraged others to follow. In Kelly Clarkson's song "I Don't Hook Up," she addresses the dominant hook-up culture: "I do not hook up, up I go slow, so if you want me I don't come cheap."

The term "hook up" is ambiguous, usually defined as a no-commitment, physical encounter with a stranger or acquaintance. Hooking up can range from just a make-out session all the way to sex. Other lingo for the no-commitment sexual encounters are "booty calls" or "friends with benefits."

Various academic studies have cited at least 75 percent of women have engaged in hooking up on campus, and the number is usually higher for men. The activity is most likely precipitated by alcohol, studies show. Boyle's decision to quit hooking up leaves her in the minority.

Evidence of the backlash on hooking up on campuses can be seen in the growing popularity of the Love and Fidelity Network, a secular, nonprofit group dedicated to helping college students open the discussion for a lifestyle that doesn't involve casual sexual activity with anonymous or uncommitted partners.

Interesting and possibly a sign of the End Times.

:D

CNN

[noonwitch]

College students+alcohol=sex.

When I was in college in the dark ages of the early 80s, people were hooking up-every weekend it was a different guy. For some girls, it was a different guy each of the 3 nights of a college weekend (starts Thursday with bar night). Campus Crusade would come to each dorm and show the Josh McDowell anti-sex movie. I doubt it had any overall effect on student morality or the transmission of STDs on campus. My roommate the BJQ was a member of CC. She was born again all day, until she got some beer in her.

[Zafod]

She was born again all day, until she got some beer in her.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

[NJCardFan]

That chick is pretty hot so it must be hard for her. She probably gets hit on 100 times a night.

And Noon, the dark ages, eh? Colleges today wish they had it as good as we did then.






2,000th post...whoohoo!

[Constitutionally Speaking]

From the article:

Some, like Boyle, experimented with hooking up and quit. Though she is Catholic, she says her reason for disengaging herself from the hook-up culture had more to do with the unhappiness she experienced afterward. Others influenced by religion have abstained from casual physical activity from the moment they set foot on campus.

Why doesn't anyone make the connection that one of the REASONS religions frown on such activities is BECAUSE it is empty and hollow - and leaves you feeling that way.


Of course that would get in the way of "religion is there to stifle you" meme.

[noonwitch]

That chick is pretty hot so it must be hard for her. She probably gets hit on 100 times a night.

And Noon, the dark ages, eh? Colleges today wish they had it as good as we did then.






2,000th post...whoohoo!

My freshman year at WMU (1982-83) cost my dad about $3200. That's two semesters of dorm living, and two semesters of tuition. I paid for my books, which ran about $100-150 a semester. Middle class parents who made a combined $55,000-60,000 could afford to send their kids to college at those rates. I didn't even need financial aid of any sort.

[marinejcksn]

College age punks seem to have money these days too (I say punks cuz I'm poor and bitter :p). The Spring Break destination for Penn State was Florida and the Bahamas this year. Here I came to school thinking all college kids lived off Ramen noodles and Pabst.

[Gingersnap]

Why doesn't anyone make the connection that one of the REASONS religions frown on such activities is BECAUSE it is empty and hollow - and leaves you feeling that way.

Of course that would get in the way of "religion is there to stifle you" meme.

Whether you believe in a Creator or not, it's undeniable that every society has regulated sex. Sex is potentially one of the most damaging behaviors that a human being can engage in. Even in cultures that appear to support promiscuity, you will find a very carefully composed hierarchy of who gets who under what circumstances. People who step out of those boundaries are harshly punished.

In our society, the payoff for men is fairly obvious but there is no corresponding payoff for most women. Most women can't even have an orgasm when they are drunk or with a stranger so a lot of that is just acting learned from porn. Women are much more likely to contract an STI than their male counterparts and the infection is more likely to do permanent damage. Only women get pregnant, obviously, and hooking up happens at the age when men and women are most fertile. Women are more likely to sustain emotional damage from meaningless encounters since women seek emotional connections as part of their psychological wellbeing.

There's a lot of risk for not much reward here.

[noonwitch]

College age punks seem to have money these days too (I say punks cuz I'm poor and bitter :p). The Spring Break destination for Penn State was Florida and the Bahamas this year. Here I came to school thinking all college kids lived off Ramen noodles and Pabst.

They live off of Ramen noodles and Pabst so they can save their pennies and spend them all during spring break!

[Novaheart]

Why doesn't anyone make the connection that one of the REASONS religions frown on such activities is BECAUSE it is empty and hollow - and leaves you feeling that way.

Wow, and all this time I thought that religion "frowns" (if one can call stoning to death frowning) on such activity because it is providing governmental and societal (with the force of GOD SAYS) ownership of females and offspring so men will know who their heirs are and women will be worthy of bearing men heirs.


Except whores, concubines, conquest rape, eunichs, temple boys, and other sexual expressions not expressly forbidden prior to a given point in time or expressly ignored when convenient or by person of sufficient social rank. Results not typical, your experience will vary.