The Sociology of 'Hooking Up'

Kathleen A. Bogle, a sociologist at LaSalle University, recently published a book called Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus. Her research is a qualitative study of college students at two universities in the eastern part of the United States--one large public university and one small Roman Catholic school.

If you follow this link, you'll find an interview with Bogle in which she answers some questions about the implications of her research findings as well as the limitations of her study and whether it can be generalized to other universities or the general population.

I'd like to focus on two related points from the interview: first, Bogle discusses how she found that "students tend to overestimate what their peers are doing" as far as their sex lives, and second, that this culture of hooking up is seen as more beneficial for men than women.

The first issue relates directly to social norms. Bogle's research shows that college students look to other people who are largely the same age and status to make decisions about how they should act.

This concept also ties in to the gendered double standard of player/slut Bogle mentions. If male students look around and see their male peers hooking up and reaping rewards for doing so, they're likely to follow suit if it's something they want. Females, however, might think twice about hooking up after overhearing or being apart of discussions in the dining hall about how so-and-so from the 5th floor sleeps around. If this discussion is laced with negative connotations, the female student may even feel guilty for wanting to hook up. This is one of the reasons Bogle claims women benefit less than men from hook up culture.

If men and women are socialized to believe that it's okay for males to hook up without being harshly judged on "how often they hook up, who they hook up with, how far they go sexually during a hook up, and how they dress when they out on a night where hooking up may happen" whereas this is a constant danger for females, then hook up culture certainly seems like a better deal for the male population.

Thoughts?

Thanks to Brian for the link!

--Brittany Hanstad, GTA