Botswana is getting younger and this is changing everything, including sex. The traditional boy meets girl start a family with a white picket fence and live happily ever after plot line has been replaced by the hedonistic free love fallout. Casual sex also tends to become an easy way out for people who shy away from addressing difficult questions concerning their relationship.
Almost half of casual hook ups in the country happen under influence of alcohol or substances, which remove inhibitions for the time being, but could leave people feeling guilty and may lead to low self-esteem.
For both men and women, sex with a casual stranger bodes poorly for mental health and self-esteem. Research shows those who were not depressed before had more depressive symptoms and loneliness after engaging in casual sex. Hookups are part of a popular cultural shift that has infiltrated the lives of emerging adults throughout the Westernized world.
And yet hookups pose a significant threat to the physical and psychological health of these young individuals. In addition to the known risks of contracting STDs, developing unwanted pregnancies, and being raped or otherwise assaulted, people who engage in casual sex may suffer emotional consequences that persist long after the details of an encounter are a dim memory.
In the workplace, the results can be just as disastrous, if not more so. The topic of sexual relationships outside the context of long-term relationships is challenging. Despite our 21st-century reality, many of our social norms remain tied to 20th-century sensibilities. The old double standard still looks down on women, but either glorifies or fails to blame men who make a habit of having frequent, uncommitted sex.
