Module 3: Sexuality and Hook-up Culture

Sexual trends

Pre-marital sex is becoming more common because people are getting married later in life

Casual sex is more common in emerging adulthood than later stages

Older adults are more at risk for STDs because they aren’t concerned about accidental pregnancy so they don’t use condoms as frequently

Sexual frequency

People in relationships have sex more often than single people

Frequency decreases after living together for 2 years and

Heterosexual behaviors & attitudes

Women are more likely to give oral sex than receive

Men tend to have more permissive attitudes about sex

Women are seen as “gatekeepers” of sex

Orgasm gap

Heterosexual women are less likely to experience orgasms than men (70-90% vs 40-60%)

Sex tends to be more focused on penetration and women are socialized to be more passive and permissive during sex

Sexual orientation

A person’s enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to other people

3.8% of US adults identify as gay, lesbian, bi, or pan

LGBTQ+ sexual trends

Gay women have fewer sexual partners than gay men and are more likely to prefer sex in committed relationships

LGBTQ couples have sex more frequently

Hook-up

Sexual interactions with nonromantic partners that usually last one night and do not involve any expectations of a lasting relationship

Reasons to have a hook-up

Self discovery, desire for sex without committing to a relationship, pleasure, peer pressure

Gendered hook-up trends

Men tend to hold more favorable views towards casual sex

Women are more likely to regret a sexual encounter and are judged for having sex more than men

Hook-up sexual scripts

Pregaming, going to a party, finding a partner (usually initiated through grinding or dancing), the hook-up, debrief with peers, ignoring the partner

General hook-up trends

75% of college students have had a hook-up

They’re often with strangers and unprotected

Why people engage in unsafe sex

Underestimating the risks of getting an STD, faulty decision making, alcohol myopia, the illusion of unique vulnerability, pluralistic ignorance, inequities in power, low self-control, decreased intimacy and pleasure

Alcohol myopia

The reduction fo a person’s ability to process all of the information available to them while intoxicated

The illusion of unique vulnerability

The belief that bad things happen to other people, but not you

Pluralistic ignorance

The phenomenon in which people wrongly believe their feelings and beliefs are different from others

Sexually transmitted infections

Infections (bacterial or viral) that are primarily spread through intercourse, oral-genital contact, or anal-genital contact

Gonorrhea

A bacterial infection that is spread through infected moist membranes and characterized by discharge and can cause painful urination

AKA drip or the clap

Syphilis

A bacterial infection characterized by sores that can later turn into a rash on the feet or hands and can cause paralysis or death

Genital herpes

A non-curable virus that is characterized by cold sore or blisters

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

A virus that destroys the body’s immune system and is characterized by fevers, night sweats, weight loss, chronic fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes

It can eventually turn into AIDS

Sexual coercion

When one partner cajoles, induces, pressures, or forces another to engage in sexual activity against their will

Ex: mildly coercive verbal persuasion, plying someone with drugs/alcohol, the threat or use of physical force

FRIES

Consent should be freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, specific