Doing Casual Sex: A Sexual Fields Approach to the Emotional Force of Hookup Culture

Abstract

Sex on college campuses has emerged as a source of emotional distress for students. This paper adopts a sexual fields approach to offer a gendered analysis of hookup culture’s central emotional imperative: to be casual about sex. Based on 101 first-person accounts of sex and relationships in college, the findings reveal how students enact sexual casualness by hooking up only when drunk, refraining from tenderness, being unfriendly afterward, and avoiding “repeat” hookups. Students both break and follow these rules. Breaking them is a primary way they form romantic relationships, but also a source of stigma, especially for women. This process helps explain some of the negative emotional consequences of hookup culture, as well as how hookup culture suppresses relationship formation and friends-with-benefits arrangements. The descriptive account of how students “do” casual sex adds much needed interactive detail to the literature on hooking up, while also contributing to sexual field theory. The findings add an emotional dimension to literature on the structure of desire, document a sexual field that fails to reflect the majority of its participants’ desires, and reveal that a sexual field can be resilient, and possibly even strengthen, even in the face of widespread dissatisfaction.

Shame and STIs: An Exploration of Emerging Adult Students’ Felt Shame and Stigma towards Getting Tested for and Disclosing Sexually Transmitted Infections

“…Additionally, EAs are increasingly partaking in the hook-up culture, and engaging in sexual behaviors outside of committed relationships [ 30 ]. This behavior is widely accepted and typical on many college campuses [ 30 , 31 ], which could indicate that STIs are less of a concern than more pressing social issues (e.g., to be perceived as casual about sex). However, the hook-up culture does compound the risk of infection.…”

“…Those who hook up are more likely to have multiple and simultaneous sexual partners [ 5 ] and are less likely to use, or ask for, protection [ 7 ]. Breaking these “hook-up norms” is stigmatized, potentially more than the STIs that come of it, despite the widespread dissatisfaction with them [ 31 ].…”

Girls’ Night Out: The Role of Women‐Centered Friendship Groups in University Hookup Culture*

“…Through this perspective, hookup culture has much less to do with the amount of sex students are having and more to do with the shared social norms, rituals, and beliefs that students take for granted in the university context (Wade 2017). These social norms impact students' experiences by necessitating casual, uncommitted, and emotionally meaningless sexual interactions and relationships (Garcia et al 2012;Reid et al 2011;Wade 2017;Wade 2019).…”

“…Many students express being dissatisfied with hookup culture (Lamont et al 2018;Wade 2017;Wade 2019). However, since students are expected to perform casualness to avoid seeming desperate and the pain of rejection, hookup culture is extremely resilient to change (Wade 2019).…”

“…Many students express being dissatisfied with hookup culture (Lamont et al 2018;Wade 2017;Wade 2019). However, since students are expected to perform casualness to avoid seeming desperate and the pain of rejection, hookup culture is extremely resilient to change (Wade 2019). Some scholars have suggested that the new emphasis on casual intimacy may be good for women, who are more able to explore their sexuality and focus on other priorities, like their education (Hamilton and Armstrong 2009).…”