I grew up in a conservative, Christian household. I was constantly scrutinized for my preferences because I didn’t want to meet a man in the church like everyone else in the community did. My family believed that the only place you could meet your future spouse was in the church.
Forget about hooking up with multiple people. My family constantly told me I would never be happy with someone outside of our religion; “hooking up” with someone was a sin according to my mother, and having sex before marriage was unthinkable.
But now that I’m on my own and away at college, I’ve come to embrace the sexual freedom and identity that comes with what many have come to call the “hookup culture.”
Today, sex outside of traditional committed relationships has become socially acceptable and I’m proud of this generation’s straying away from the prudeness which I grew up around.
According to a 2015 study conducted by the Pew Research Center, millennials prefer hooking up over becoming involved in a committed relationship.
Casual sex has become the norm for this generation – more specifically college students – and it’s actually quite liberating to realize. It’s a remarkable era we found ourselves living in — one where the age when people start to marry and begin forming families has been pushed back dramatically.
Many college students across the nation are embracing the hookup culture, where sex with someone you aren’t in a committed relationship with is standardized.
As intimidating as a one-night stand might sound to some, it’s noteworthy to realize that hooking up may actually helps one’s self esteem.
That’s right — as reported by the American Psychological Association, in a study of 187 participants asked to describe their feelings after a hookup, 65 percent of participants reported feeling good, aroused, or excited.
The widespread conservative view of sex seems to be limited to the nation’s religious population — casual sex is making people feel good about themselves, which, in turn, is promoting hookups.
One of the driving forces helping this culture thrive is the prevalence of dating apps — the kind so many of us have come to download in search of someone we connect with.
According to an article titled, “Tindr swipes right on monetization,” by writer Karissa Giuliano for CNBC, there are approximately 50 million people using Tindr nationwide.
The app, which promotes itself as a way for people to meet, is notorious for — yes, bringing people together — but many times they’re “meeting” for sex. Is it a bad thing? No, not necessarily. Although, easy to find sex on a social app, it’s also allowed me to date – date outside of a religious environment.
When I was younger, I attempted to meet someone who I was both attracted to physically and emotionally — like my mother expected, but it wasn’t working out for me.
So, I gave online dating a shot. Although my church-going peers laughed at the idea and believed I was going against God, I enjoyed connecting with people through dating apps. The apps gave me options outside of the congregation and eventually led me to a legitimate relationship.
Dating apps and the hookup culture have been painted in a negative light. Those who participate in hookup culture are seen as sex crazed perverts who have no desire to get married, as if the two are mutually exclusive.
It seems that a person is judged harder by their elders when they’re trying find their sexual identity. If one wants to explore their sexual identity then they shouldn’t be scrutinized for it.
What my family didn’t accept was that we weren’t living in biblical times anymore. The dating scene has changed since then. Hooking up with different people has strangely – and progressively – become a part of a way our society functions.