What are “hook-ups” and the “walk of shame?” Some parents may be surprised to learn that they are slang phrases used by young adults and college students to explain various aspects of their sexual encounters.##M:[more]##
Elizabeth Paul, chair of the psychology department at the College of New Jersey and an expert in the field of youth sexuality, will speak on “Beer Goggles, the Walk of Shame, and Catching Feelings: Youths’ Experience with hook-ups and Quick-Fix Sex,” Tuesday, March 8, at 7 p.m. at the Bart Luedeke Center on the Rider campus. The Rider University Psychology Club is sponsoring a talk, which is open to the community.
For those who don’t know their meaning, the definition of the phrases from the title of Paul’s talk can be found at Urbandictionary.com, a website cataloging modern slang. According to the website a hook-up is a one-time sexual encounter, ranging from kissing to intercourse, between people who have no plan to ever see each other again.
Beer goggles is “an alcohol-induced condition of the eyes in which members of the opposite gender appear very attractive.” The walk of shame, is “the walk across campus in the same clothes as yesterday after you slept with someone and spent the night in their dorm room.” Catching feelings is “to fall in love with someone at an inappropriate time, or mistake a repeated hook-up for a serious relationship.”
Paul has conducted extensive research on the phenomenon of the hookup. Last year, she was featured in an article, “Mating Behavior 101,” in Newsweek magazine. She was also interviewed by NBC’s “Today Show” in connection with the story.
According to the Newsweek article, Paul published a paper in 2002 recognized by her colleagues as the first academic article exploring college hook-ups in depth. She surveyed 555 undergraduate students, finding that 78 percent had hooked-up, and that they usually did so after consuming alcohol. She also found that the average student had accumulated 10.8 hook-up partners during college.
In her “Today Show” interview, Paul explained that a hook-up is the modern-day version of a one-night stand, but not exactly equivalent, because a hook-up can involve a broad range of sexual activities.
She said that hook-ups, to some degree, may be replacing the concept of traditional relationships. Paul noted that students in her focus groups say that the encounters offer an instant connection, but without the baggage that come with long-term relationships.
The down side, according to Paul: The danger of unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and the potential for troubling emotions afterward.
“Beer Goggles, the Walk of Shame, and Catching Feelings: Youths’ Experiences with Hookups and Quick Fix Sex” presented by Elizabeth Paul. Bart Luedeke Center, Rider University, 609-895-5588. Free. Tuesday, March 8, 7 p.m.
