Reed, Michael: Sexual Health

            College is widely regarded as a social experiment that tests a student's physical, mental, and moral resoluteness. The "hookup scene" is one such test on the morality of each student. From my observations heterosexual relationships are no longer between a man and woman, but instead between a boy and a girl who lack the maturity and skill to make good decisions.

            Sex is the name of the game. "Hookup" implies an act of sexuality between two people, and college has become "hookup" heaven. Coming into college presents new options. It presents freedom. It presents liberation to students, some of whom had long been watched over by authoritarian parents. Once in college, they may be quickly swayed by their new freedom. College includes a sense of moral detachment,  in some ways, for many students. No longer do these students feel the always wary eye of God as their grandmother might preach. These students are allowed to walk in and out doors with little to no questioning. The fact of the matter is no one cares what these students do. 

            Marc Parry's article "Study Casts Skeptical Light on Campus 'Hookup Culture'" attempts to disprove the presence of a "hookup scene." Parry compares two sets of data about young students. One set encompasses the late 1980s to the late 1990s, while the other includes today's students going back to 2002. Parry asserts that data show that today's students are having no more sex than those students from 30 years ago. However, I believe a "hookup culture" was rampant in the 1980s as well. If sexual liberation is attributed to the flower power age of the 1970s, Parry's theory that there isn't a "hookup culture" is null and void. Parry was simply comparing one "hookup culture" to another. These data should be compared to the 1950s, when society was much more sexually conservative.