Hookup Culture In College: An Original Study
*This is an article focusing on ONLY heterosexual relationships and should only be interpreted as such.
Picture by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
We took a deep dive into the hook-up culture of Elon University and beyond. We sent out a survey to straight men and women at Elon, University of Miami, and the University of Texas at Austin to compare the trends of their hook-up culture with that at Elon. As predicted, the overall trend is very similar across the nation.
We surveyed random students from these three schools to get the scoop on off-campus party hook-up culture. The most common response to how often participants attend off-campus parties was “once a week” with 28.8% and “whenever possible” with 19.2%. 82% of the students surveyed wrote that they were in a Greek organization.
According to Campus Explorer, “Sociologist Paula England of Stanford University, whose ongoing research since 2005 has surveyed more than 17,000 students from 20 colleges and universities, reported that by senior year, 72% of both sexes reported having at least one hookup, with the average 9.7 for men and 7.1 for women.”
For better or worse the ‘laws’ of dating have shifted to the point where traditional dating has taken the backseat to no-commitment relationships. To make matters worse, as we all know, the ratio of Elon University is up to 60% female to 40% male students according to USNews.com. Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas, Austin, suggests that “the higher proportion of women on campuses has contributed to the popularity of hookup culture. Women made up more than 56% of the college population in 2009, according to the recent census data on enrollments.”
Want to know more? Here’s the results of the survey we sent out nationwide from all three schools: Elon, UMiami, and UT Austin.
Common themes:
Many participants agree that…
Parties should let more guys in (ratio)
Woman get treated like objects
Men are not let into parties without certain criteria while women are treated as prizes
People describe themselves as harmless when approaching someone of the opposite sex but describe others as too physical
The statistics:
72.6% Kissed someone they met the same night
43.8% Slept with someone they met the same night
50.7% Have been grabbed from behind as a female
72.6% Prefer to meet someone in person
38.4% Have slept with someone from a dating app
9.6% Only enjoy sex with people they do not know well
63% Plan on having a relationship during their four years of college
When describing how they saw others approach a person of the opposite sex, participants responded…..
Flirting, calling their name
They kind of just slide up behind you and start dancing
Going up to people randomly
Men just move to dance up on women, but also it’s a lot of approaching people and saying something small before dancing with them
They are dancing near each other until the guy ends up grinding on the girl or grabs her hand
They honestly just go to parties to dance and drink, but when they have noticed someone approaching a person of the opposite sex it’s usually been a man approaching a woman and they have noticed it because the man is either harassing the woman or behaving inappropriately to a woman who is too drunk to do anything about it or make any coherent decisions.
Very aggressively
Straight women’s comments on hookup culture:
“Our hook-up culture also makes it really difficult, or seemingly so, to try and connect with people for a relationship or more of an FWB thing just because you have to have slept with them first. Most of the people in relationships on campus started by them hooking up and then eventually progressing to a relationship.”
“Men are hot commodities at Elon. There are maybe 5 guys for every 90 girls at parties here.”
“Women are treated like objects/ Men touch women without asking”
They are treated differently. Guys want to get as many girls into parties as possible while restricting the number of other guys so there is a better ratio.”
“Men are treated as Gods because the ratio is usually female-heavy which makes them feel like they can have as many as they want (makes them feel like playing four or five girls a night is okay and socially “cool”). Whereas females are treated usually as objects if they meet the beauty standard. Many females don’t feel safe drinking bucket unless they can confirm a frat brother has taken some of it and no one is ever allowed to go anywhere by themself for safety.”
Straight men’s comments on hookup culture:
“Women can get into parties easier.”
“Women are allowed in and allowed to do whatever they want, but the number of men is policed and oftentimes only brothers or guys they know can come in.”
“Before entering, it’s hard for boys to get in unless they have a large group of girls with them.”
“Men are required to get themselves there, know multiple people to get in, have a good ratio of men to women when you show up, make the first move, and provide a drink for women. Women wear scandalous clothes, are allowed in everywhere, and are just expected to take drinks and dance.”
“Women are looked at and compared.”
“Men aren’t randomly grabbed or expected to be a certain way— women are called slutty or called prudes if they don’t hook up.”
“Men aren’t let in, girls are sexualized and grabbed.’’
Things people think should change:
Someone should be at the door of a party to ensure every girl leaving is okay
Stop slut-shaming
Boys should want to get to know a girl before sleeping with them
How men are raised
The uneven power dynamics
Put more women in charge of organizing parties and provide resources in case of harassment or assault or discomfort
Bring safe rides back and free drink drug testing strips so girls feel safer
“I would change how parties are set up because most the times it’s set up to display the females while men can prowl on the outskirts to see who they will go up to next. I also would change the bucket style to a bar style so that females can feel safer and also enjoy their time there.”
We do not own any of the images found in this article.
Featured image by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.