Since the 1950s, the youth of the United States has moved steadily away from the practice of courtship to the now-prevalent "hook-up" culture. Nowhere is this trend more evident than on college campuses today. But why is it that the practice of formal dinner-and-a-movie dating has become so … out-dated?
According to a 2001 report by the Institute for American Values (IAV), titled "Hooking Up, Hanging Out, and Hoping for Mr. Right: College Women on Mating and Dating Today," only one-third of a representative sampling of 1,000 college women said that they had been on two or more dinner-and-a-movie-type dates.
There are many explanations as to the factors that have caused this practice of non-committal relationships to become the norm. According to the IAV report, as society changes, so too do the practices of dating. The report suggests that one contributing factor is the change in the male-to-female ratio. In 1950, the number of men found on college campuses was twice that of the number of women; today, the number of women attending college actually surpasses that of men. At Boston College, 47 percent of the student population is male and 53 percent is female. As time passes, the relative percentage of men on campus continues to fall, further limiting women's chances of finding someone to date.
In addition, the role of women in general has changed drastically since the mid-20th century. Today, many more women are attending college and seeking higher education to build their own careers rather than relying on a husband for financial security. For women, the focus has shifted from finding a lifelong partner to pursuing their profession and, in turn, becoming independent and self-supporting.
In addition to increasing women's independence, feminism has helped to make it normal for women to go out alone on a Friday night and has offered women newfound sexual freedom. All of these social changes have contributed to changes in the dating scene.
Men, at least on BC's campus, refuse to shoulder full blame for the lackluster dating scene. The concept of dating is often viewed as such a rarity in college that many women are somewhat put-off by it. "The problem is women. They set the bar too high. You try to be chivalrous and they call you a creep, but you're drunk at a party, and it's OK. You end up being 'sketch.' They call you 'sketch,'" said José Alfredo Arciga, A&S '09.
There are definitely women who aren't looking for a serious relationship. IAV reported that, while 63 percent of the nationally representative sample of college women said that they would like to meet their future husbands while in college, women are marrying later. In 1955, as the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census reports, the median age of first marriage for men was 22.6 years and 20.2 years for women. In 2003, the median age increased to 27 for men and 25 for women.
The college environment is not exactly conducive to finding a future spouse. BC in particular is notorious for having a hook-up culture in which couples engage in physical activities, ranging from kissing to having sex, with no expectation of commitment - inevitably, alcohol is often involved. For the most part, students say this sort of hook-up culture has replaced the formal dating scene at BC.
But some argue that the practices of formal dating have evolved alongside the hook-up culture. "A hook-up could be another way of expressing interest and lead to a move to a more serious relationship," said Heather Tom, A&S '09.
For other students, a serious relationship is not on the top of their priority lists. Some students feel that they are already too busy and that they are hard-pressed to find enough time to maintain a long-term relationship that doesn't occupy their entire social lives.
In addition, because students spend so much time interacting with one another in informal settings, there's no need to go out in such a formal setting, which could actually offer less of an opportunity to truly get to know a person.
While many students claim that the college lifestyle supports hooking up rather than dating, the hook-up culture has been viewed negatively as it condones multiple partners, risky sexual behavior, and a lack of trust and loyalty.
An article Tuesday in The Boston Globe titled, "Hooking up is the rage, but is it healthy?" by Barbara F. Meltz took a deeper look at the negative impact of the random hook-up culture on women. Meltz argued that after hooking up, many women find themselves in a situation where they have feelings for their partner, but have to pretend as if they don't.
Meltz said, "[h]ooking up also causes young women to be emotionally unhooked from a partner and from themselves … More seriously, being unhooked can lead to depression, alcohol abuse, anorexia, and emotional disturbance."
Meltz went on to explain physiological explanations as to why women become more attached to sexual partners than men do. During sex, a chemical called oxytocin is released in the brain that "promotes feelings of connection and love." Testosterone, also released by males during sex, suppresses oxytocin, thus diminishing its effects.
Su Chen Miao, A&S '09, believes that there are many cons to this hook-up culture, and she said that being single has its benefits. "You can meet more people, but hooking up is not the way to go about it," said Miao.
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