By Michael Diambri, A&E Writer
Many people argue that the hookup culture in college is liberating. In reality, the hookup culture only liberates miscommunication, poor health choices and incidents of rape and violence.
Today’s college students may think that casual flings and hookups are essential to the college experience.
Students don’t realize that these undefined, reckless endeavors are getting them nowhere.
College is a complicated time. You can complicate the craziness of college more with an impractical hook up or fling.
As any person who has ever been in a relationship that has gone wrong can tell you, miscommunication is a relationship killer.
The intentions of the random hottie you are making out with at a party might not be clear.
Situations like this lead to poor communication climates.
In the hookup culture of college, mixed signals are constantly being sent off and perceived as something that they are not. Especially because a great deal of the communication done is non verbal.
We all know catching “the feels” sucks. Especially when this is just with a casual fling, or when you learn that you were just a rebound. When the feeling turns out to not be mutual, one side of the relationship ends up hurt and heartbroken.
Additionally, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other professional organizations have said that the hookup culture is not healthy.
The CDC reports that around 10 million college-aged people are diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases annually in the U.S.
It is scary to think about if people involved in the hookup culture bother to get tested for a sexually transmitted disease.
Also, how can we expect incidents of rape and violence in college to end when having sex with someone is promoted among students, especially through social media. Just look at Tinder, Yik Yak, Twitter or Instagram to see the promotion of the hookup culture.
The miscommunications occurring in the hookup culture often leads to instances when individuals feel pressure to give consent when they don’t want to. This is because many people have perceived the hookup culture to be the societal norm.
Additionally, having sex with someone who is intoxicated is considered rape. An individual who has had too much too drink is not in the right mind to make an insightful decision and give consent.
Although not all situations of rape involve alcohol, unfortunately, instances of rape involving alcohol have been perpetuated by the hookup culture.
The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported this striking fact about sexual abuse: yearly around 97,000 students ages 18 to 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
College is being glorified as something different than what it is intended to be. For many, college no longer means preparing yourself for your future, it only means enjoying right now.
Being in college grants less supervision and levels of independence to constantly make individual decisions that most have not had before enrolling. This certainly comes into play when students decide to try new things in college. They feel like they are free.
I am not saying “don’t experiment” and “don’t party” – college is all about new experiences, making connections and seeing what the world is like. Make sure you are thinking with your brain and not with your genitalia when you experiment.
Although people may tell you how liberating the hookup culture is, feel free to not be a part of the hookup culture and live a healthy and safe life.
