Hooking up

Americans have been in the throes of a national hissy fit the past few years about “hookup culture,” or millennials’ tendency toward no-strings-attached sex.

Conservative pearl-clutchers are rankled at the thought of widespread casual sex and probable orgies that are happening on college campuses nationwide.

All this despite a study conducted at Brown University which shows that “sex in the context of romantic relationships is still the norm,” as most of the students who were having sex were doing it with a long-term romantic partner. According to this study, college is not quite the crazy hedonistic sex-fest it’s cracked up to be.

Even when hookups do happen, they are not the worst thing in the world. They might even be good for you.

Experimentation helps you figure out what you do and don’t like, what you will and won’t do.  

The casual nature of hookups may mean less embarrassment than in a more traditional relationship when exploring a kink.

Everyone is different, but when you want someone to fall in love with you, you might be more hesitant or embarrassed to request certain favors. Hookups can help us figure out what we want and learn how to ask for it.

Hannah Rosin, author of “The End of Men,” posits that hookup culture is actually good for career-oriented college women, allowing them to put off serious romance to pursue other goals.  

Casual encounters can teach us valuable things about others and ourselves and let us delay committed relationships until we’re ready.

Sure, hookups aren’t 1950s courtships, but do we really want to date the way our grandparents did?  

“Mildred, let me order for you and carry you to the car and talk to your dad like he is your proprietor.”

“That’s fine, Ernest, I will just pretend like everything you say is absolutely captivatingly splendid while I sit here protecting my virginity-jewel from wayward youths.”

Hookup culture is not for everyone, but just as nonparticipants should not be shamed as boring or prudish, we need to stop treating the prevalence of hookups as though the four horsemen of the apocalypse are descending.

Let the hookups happen, alongside the multitude of long-term relationships we assure you college students are still having.