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Hook-up activities may include a wide range of sexual behaviors, such as kissing, oral sex, and penetrative intercourse. However, these encounters often transpire without any promise of, or desire for, a more traditional romantic relationship. A review of the literature suggests that these encounters are becoming increasingly normative among adolescents and young adults in North America, representing a marked shift in openness and acceptance of uncommitted sex.
We reviewed the current literature on sexual hookups and considered the multiple forces influencing hookup culture, using examples from popular culture to place hooking up in context. We argue that contemporary hookup culture is best understood as the convergence of evolutionary and social forces during the developmental period of emerging adulthood.
Keywords: casual sex, hookup, hooking up, human sexuality, sexual behavior, mating strategies, sexual scripts. Popular media representations of sexuality demonstrate the pervasiveness of a sexual hookup culture among emerging adults. The themes of books, plots of movies and television shows, and lyrics of numerous songs all demonstrate a permissive sexuality among consumers.
As an example, the lyrics above, from the chart-topping pop song Last Friday Night T. Research on media portrayals of sexual behavior has documented this pattern as well. Popular culture is simultaneously representing aspects of actual contemporary sexual behavior and providing sexual scripts for emerging adults. In the current review, we examine and explore these patterns in sexual hookups. Hooking upβ brief uncommitted sexual encounters among individuals who are not romantic partners or dating each otherβ has taken root within the sociocultural milieu of adolescents, emerging adults, and men and women throughout the Western world.
