Dating/Hooking up

In the first article by Risman and Schwartz, they stress that sexual coitus between teenagers and between college students is not as big as a problem as the media makes it out to be. They say that teenagers in specific have adopted a new sort of sexual conservatism. In fact, they state that teen pregnancy rates , the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, and abortion rates have all declined throughout the 1990s. They explained these trends through the Youth Risk Behavior Survey that was designed by the Center for Disease Control. A major trend that was stressed throughout the article was the fact that boys' sexual behavior is becoming more like girls' behavior. Therefore, there has been a decrease in boy's sexual activity at younger ages. They attempt to explain this as a result of girls increasing their negotiation power to only have sexual relations in intimate/exclusive relationships. Although this is really only a suggestion, and has not been proven statistically, they were able to deduce more conclusions from this relationship. Risman and Schwartz also claim that teenagers are becoming a lot more responsible during sexual activity. They also said that the percentage of teenagers having sex are equalizing among all races. The high percentages of black teenagers having sex is starting to match the percentages of whites and Hispanics. Clearly, a lot of interesting trends are addressed in this article, but sources for all the data are a bit vague. Instead of naming the specific study, they were a bit more general and usually just noted that "studies have shown..."

In the article by England and Thomas, the means of acquiring their data was explained much more specifically. They sampled a group of 615 college students with an online survey and they also conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with another 270 students. They were clearly able to prove that "hooking up" on college campuses is currently much more prevalent than going on dates. In fact they found that 21% of guys and 32% of women had not been on a date since being in college. Interviews revealed that most hookups were purely sexual and most happened while under the influence. Students also said that having multiple hookups with the same person had the chance of leading into a romantic relationship. But before entering this relationship, most couples had to have "the talk," which established the relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend. Another important finding was that girls seemed to be much less satisfied with the hookup than the the guy. In hookups involving oral sex, the survey showed that 80% of men were receiving orgasms while only 30% of women were receiving orgasms, which contrasts greatly with the 70% of guys reporting that the girl orgasmed. Overall, this article clearly proved that hooking up is much more of a trend on college campuses as opposed to the traditional date.

As for gender differences, both articles said similar things regarding the stigma that is associated with girls who hook up "too much" or openly talk about their hook ups. They both claimed that there is quite the double standard. Although girls are sexual beings, just like men, they are still looked down upon if they hook up with guys on a regular basis. On the other hand, guys who "raise their numbers" is seen as an ego-booster and is applauded by most other guys. The article by Risman and Schwartz stressed that the discrepancy of sexual activity between boys and girls is actually lessening. On the other hand, the article by England and Thomas addressed the issue that girls are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to be satisfied from hooking up. They referred to this as the "orgasm gap." As I had stated above, they found that a much higher percentage of guys were achieving orgasm than girls during a hook up.

Through my own experiences in high school and college, I can definitely relate more to the article written by England and Thomas. Throughout my college career, I have actually attended two schools: Umass Amherst and BC. At both colleges, the hook up culture was virtually identical. Just as the article had stated, most guys are not looking to be in serious relationships. And it is even more surprising that more girls aren't either. Personally, I have been in relationships longer than I have been single, but when I was single, hooking up didn't keep me satisfied very long because after awhile I started to just feel used. But a lot of my friends who have been single for awhile are used to this culture and have no problem with it. I feel that a person's attitude towards hooking up is a result of how long they have been exposed to it.