Hooking up

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Hooking Up
Hooking up is a recently adopted culture among younger generations that involve casual sexual engagements ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse. Hook-ups concentrate more on the physical pleasures than emotional and psychological and therefore there tend to be little to no emotional connection or long-term relations. On the other hand, traditional dating is a more formal set up than a hook up in which the partners know each other or want to get to know one another, and it tends to have hope for future correlation. There is a significant change in heterosexual associations over time such that unlike in the past where a majority of sexual relations occurred following courtship or dating, today’s sexual engagements are casual and random. This paper provides a review of the article Hooking Up by Bradshaw et al. as well as that of interviews conducted involving college students and their perception of hook ups.
Bradshaw, Kahn, and Saville attempt to identify the different benefits, or risks, either gender experience following a hookup encounter. Bradshaw et al. acknowledge a shift in the heterosexual sexual encounters in which young people participate in non-committed sexual relations than how it traditionally used to be (661). Men tend to have more advantages from hookups since they tend to be random and do not necessarily involve planning and control costs associated with dating (Bradshaw et al. 663). Additionally, other benefits that men have from hookups are that they present less to no distress resulting from possible rejection anxieties usual with dating.

On the other hand, women tended to prefer traditional courtship to hookups since such connections present more disadvantages such as a possibility of rape and distress due to the guilt of the act. In the study, the authors performed a study using 221 participants, 150 women and 71 men all college going students of a mean age of 18.72 years (Bradshaw 664). The study aimed at comparing traditional dating and hookups as preferences for the participants.
The results of the survey revealed a compelling support for women’s preference for traditional dating over hooking up compared to their male counterparts. In contrast, men preferred hooking up more than dating compared to women. Nonetheless, the study did not find any difference in dating or hookups preferences in either of the genders where there were possibilities for long-term relations. Bradshaw et al. points out, while quoting Mongeau et al. 2007, 2004 and Roscoe et al. 1987 that females tend to more likely than males look for relationships and prefer courtship than hookups in most conditions (667). Nevertheless, Bradshaw found out that both females and males viewed dating ideal than hooking up in situations where there was a possibility for a relationship (667). Women’s preference to hooking up than dating was considerably high in instances where there were alcohol involvement and an attractive male. In contrast, male’s preference to hookups was in circumstances that involved little interactions with an appealing female and small possibilities for rejection (Bradshaw 667). It is supposedly true, using Bradshaw’s findings that both males and women perceived conventional dating to be more appealing than hooking up in instances where there was a potential for forming a relationship.
Bradshaw, while quoting Leigh 1989, Hatfield and Rapson 2005 and Regan and Berscheid’s 1995 suggestions indicate how women connect love with sex (668). In contrast, men tend to separate love from sex. Bradshaw suggested that women tend to feel ashamed or become depressed in a hook up set up more than men (668). Other associated risks for hooking up included becoming more attached than the other party or risk for losing a friendship. In contrast, men perceived sexual satisfaction as a benefit from a hookup and physical intimacy as one of dating benefits. Also, women are more inclined into engaging in a long-term relationship, a probability only presented in dating and not hooking up. The only risks men feel during a hookup setup is the fear of the female seeking a relationship afterward which threatens their independence.
The conducted interview supports a majority of Bradshaw’s findings. The interview included seven participants, four females and three males all from different ethnic groups to help obtain varied viewpoints from a diverse population. The process involved the use of open-ended questionnaire of their general view of hooking up, female versus male risks, and individual preferences. All participants agreed to have had a hookup experience with frequencies ranging between 1 to more than 60. Men tended to have more hookup engagements compared to their female counterparts which concur with Bradshaw’s supposition that males more than females prefer hooking up than dating. Although one cannot rule out the possibility of increased rape tendencies in hookups more than dating, all interviewees conceded that all their sexual encounters did not involve rape.
All female participants agreed to want their hook-up partners to text them the following day. The tendency concurs with Bradshaw’s suggestion that women like relationships more than hookups (667). On the other hand, in contrast to Bradshaw’s result that men preferred hook-up since it presented no future relation prospects, two-thirds of the male interviewees agreed to want a text from or to send one to their hookup dates. Additionally, two-thirds of the respondents admitted to “catching feelings” for people they hooked up with or thinking about them. This incident proposes that men, similar to women have the potential of getting attached and may want a relationship rather than just a one-time hookup. The interview results also concurred with Bradshaw’s suggestion of females getting depressed following a hookup in which half of women interviewees had never engaged in one night stands and the other half who had expressed having felt terrible following the act. More than half of the respondents agreed there is a change in today’s dating scenario in which sex is more casual than during their parent’s time. 99 percent of the participants agreed to either not being comfortable or completely cannot agree to an open relationship. All interviewees agreed that men are more than women likely to be applauded for engaging in sexual relations with multiple partners whereas women would be looked down on and viewed as “loose or sluts/whores.” Over 50 percent suggested both males and females are equally likely to cheat on their partners and 100 percent agreed men are less likely than women to use protection or get tested for infections.
In conclusion, hookups are more prevalent in the contemporary world more than dating. However, women prefer dating to hooking up more than men due to its prospect for long-term correlations and lesser risks. Although, both males and females opt dating where there are possibilities for a relation. While a man’s perceived risk in hooking up is the possibility of the female becoming attached hence threatening the male’s freedom, women risks include depression due to guilt and shame resulting from the activity.
Works Cited
Bradshaw, Carolyn, Kahn, Arnold & Saville, Bryan. “To Hook Up or Date: Which Gender
Benefits?’ Springer Science and Business Media, 2010 (62), 661-669.