Hook-up Culture and Its Consequences

By Caitlin Baker｜@caitlinbakerjourno

17/11/23｜Photos by Abhimanyu Jhingan , Yan Krukau , Mart Production

Hook-up culture: negative or positive? It seems to be taking society by storm, but has anyone actually sat down and discussed the and physical and psychological consequences?

Hook-up culture, what do we know about it? Well hook-up culture is defined by 'Springer Link' as 'a culture that involves and supports hooking up or uncommitted, short-term sexual acts between two people who are not involved in a long-term relationship with each other.' Many people who indulge in hook-up culture seem to be unaware of the consequences, according to a survey taken by the American Psychological Association, 'physical and psychological, a survey of 1,468 undergraduate students found that 82.6% reported negative mental and emotional consequences including embarrassment, loss of respect, and difficulties with maintaining steady relationships.'

The question you're probably asking is, why? This is a question my colleagues and I also pondered over, in order to find the answer we contacted 'Relate Nottingham', "We do relationship counselling with couples, all sorts of problems that couples come with. There's a myth really that we only try and stick people back together which isn’t true, we do separation work as well and help people with how the children might deal with the separation...obviously we do sex therapy...the age group goes from teenagers right through to older people." This lead us to Barbara Dunleavy, "I started off with relate...a relationship councillor, I then went on to become a sex therapist, then after that I became a supervisor so I would supervise other counsellors work, I was also a trainer with Relate, then I left Relate and went into private practice which I did for quite a while, then after I retired Relate contacted me and said would I consider going on their board of trustees so I'm on the Relate board now."

One of our main queries here is whether hook-up culture is a negative or positive thing, "societal norms have changed enormously...yet it does affect people, it affects people obviously psychologically and it might not be affecting them at the time so much but later it can affect future relationships...when they’re caught up in what is kind of a norm expectation...that you just have sex with people." Building off of Barbara's response, 'The Spotlight' claims that 'While it may be gratifying in the short term, hooking up clearly leads to negative mental health outcomes in the long term'.

People may go into hook-up culture claiming 'no strings attached' yet it seems that's not always the case, "Oxytocin is produced in the brain when you have an intimate interaction with someone. So if you’re having sexual intercourse with someone your brain will be producing oxytocin which is a bonding hormone...both people have it but some people it doesn’t affect as much but if you’re hooking up with the same person just for sex then you can imagine if you’re quite often forming this oxytocin, the bonding hormone, you will form a bond with that person." Clearly hook-ups provide a negative long-term affect, providing that you happen to catch feeling for the person you're being intimate with.

"When they go into this hook-up culture it causes psychological pain and stress which might not manifest itself immediately, but further down the line it can do." - Barbara Dunleavy,

However, it's not just about the psychological effects. According to STDcheck.com, when hooking up and avoiding barrier contraception, risk of gaining an STI rises by 30%. Not to mention the risk of pregnancy which goes up by 20%, according to Self.com. Physical effects matter equally to the psychological, especially because if not treated it could lead to something much more serious. Interestingly, women tend to be more at risk to STDs according to CDC.gov: The lining of the vagina is thinner and more delicate than the skin on a penis making it easier for bacteria and viruses to penetrate, STDs can lead to serious health complications and affect a woman’s future reproductive plans, and women are more likely than men to confuse symptoms of an STD for something else. Does this mean that men and women worry differently about the physical consequences? "I don’t think

they do and that’s why there’s such a massive increase between the ages of 15 and 23. Gonorrhoea for instance has risen exponentially, it’s a big problem. Then the other STDs which people don’t tend to think of like chlamydia for instance, people might think ‘well chlamydia is not serious, not in the same ballpark as gonorrhoea or syphilis’ but actually chlamydia doesn’t really give that many symptoms...chlamydia if left untreated can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease which can then lead to problems with the womb and the fallopian tubes, can cause problems in the future but it don’t want to scare anyone out there, we are trying to be realistic."

Hook-up culture statistically tends to have a negative outcome, this doesn't mean that it shouldn't be perused. It has been shown to have a few positive outcomes according to Medium, 'Greater sexual freedom: The ability to explore your sexuality without interference or expectations is one of the key advantages of the hook-up culture. Casual sex can help some people decompress and relieve stress by providing a distraction from the pressures of daily life.' VeryWellMind also have statistics to show the benefits, 'a comprehensive 2020 review of 71 studies generally found a positive emotional outcome from casual sex experiences for most people.'

The bottom line is, it depends on who you ask. There may be negative statistics but there are also many positive, if someone chooses to indulge in hook-up culture then that's their choice. It can be conducted for various reasons, and we are not ones to judge. Our aim behind this article was to make people aware of the negative and positive consequences. We hope that go forth, people will contemplate the consequences before making a decision.

If this article interested you, be sure to check out the podcast we uploaded featuring Barbara Dunleavy which goes more in depth on this topic.