“safety in numbers” and “keeping an eye on one another” to help avoid potentially dangerous situations with men. In some cases, a specific woman would be asked to stay sober for the evening to make sure
“nothing bad happened” to any of her friends who were drinking alcohol. Living in close proximity to fellow classmates often makes students, especially women, feel safe engaging in a hookup.
A final issue, which makes college campuses an environment conducive to hooking up, is the attention college students pay to what the others are doing. No doubt many college students, particularly during freshman year, are very anxious to be a part of the social scene on campus. Not many people are comfortable being an outcast, nor do they want to be labeled as different than everybody else. Therefore, one of the reasons college students follow the hookup script is likely to be their desire to fit in. The students I interviewed also said that discussing what T H E H O O K U P S C E N E
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other students were doing sexually was a common pastime. Thus, who hooked up with whom as well as how far the hookup went sexually is often a topic of conversation among college friends. As Kyle put it:
“When I am around my friends I say: ‘Did you do it?’ They say: ‘Yeah I had sex.’ . . . We are pretty candid with each other so they will clarify
[what happened sexually], unless she is ugly or something. Then they won’t tell you, because they are going to get their balls busted.” The pervasiveness of the hookup culture on campus may stem from the lack of privacy and the gossipy nature of life in college. Students are aware of what their classmates do to socialize, form relationships and engage in sexual encounters; and many may go along with hooking up because that’s the thing to do.
WHO IS HOOKING UP?
The hookup culture transcends gender, grade level, and institution. Both men and women on the college campuses I studied took part in the hookup system. Additionally, hooking up was not limited to any particular grade level, although a few students suggested that it was more prevalent freshman year. The hookup script was also not confined to one particular campus; in fact, it was pervasive on both campuses I studied.
The universities I studied had some important differences: one is a large state-sponsored university with a diverse population; the other is a smaller faith-based institution where the student body is largely Catholic. Fraternities and sororities exist on both campuses. However, Greek life was more central to the experience of students at State University. Despite the differences, hooking up is very much a part of the social landscape on both campuses. Any differences in norms for the hookup scene seemed to be related more to the size of the institution than its religious affiliation or lack thereof. In my interviews with students at Faith University, I asked whether they thought the religious affiliation of the school had any affect on hooking up on campus. Most students insisted it was completely irrelevant. Lynn, a sophomore, had the following to say:
KB: Do you think Faith University is different in any way because of being a Catholic school?
Lynn: No.
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KB: So, Faith would be the same as state schools or wherever?
Lynn: With like hooking up, yeah . . . the Catholic school part doesn’t really have [anything] to do with hooking up. Hooking up I think is across the board, it would happen at any college.
Trent, a senior, and I had a similar exchange: KB: Do you think male-female interaction would be the same no matter what school you went to?
Trent: Yeah.
KB: So, if you went to [a larger state school] or anywhere it would be the same?
Trent: Yeah, the same thing just a different size.
KB: Do you think there’s anything different about this school because it’s a Catholic school? Does that matter?
Trent: Not really.
KB: So, Catholic or public or state or whatever, the same thing?
Trent: Yeah.
When I asked students on both campuses if they thought the way men and women interact would be the same at other colleges or if there was something unique about their campus, most indicated that they expected it would be the same. Many students mentioned that they had visited other schools to spend time with friends and found hooking up to be common among students there, too. The only difference mentioned was that some large colleges were deemed “party schools.” These schools have a reputation for heavy alcohol consumption and a party atmosphere, with many alcohol-centered social events happening each week. Colleges with this reputation tend to have not only a large student population, but also an active Greek life. Some students suggested that this atmosphere might make the hookup scene more anonymous. In other words, students can hook up and never cross paths again. At smaller institutions this outcome is not a possibility. Max, a sophomore at State University, mentions the anonymity of hooking up at a large school, “You can totally hook up with a girl here and never see her again.”
Similarly, Larry, a senior at Faith University, believed there are more anonymous “one and done” type of hookups at the larger state schools, T H E H O O K U P S C E N E
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based on his experiences visiting friends at such institutions. “I think
[large state schools] would be more random hookups. There would not be as much opportunity at [large state schools] for a long-term relationship. There are just so many people and you don’t get to know someone as close as [here at Faith University].”
Although hooking up was commonplace among the student body at both Faith and State universities, there were certain circumstances
