Is ISB Following The Cultural Trend of Hookups? By Giovanni Crimi

Sharing a milkshake with two straws. Candle-lit dinners. Strolls on the beach at night. The long-awaited first kiss. This sounds like something out of a movie, and in this day and age, it seems to only come out of movies. In fact, movie premises like “The Notebook” could be considered unrealistic with the new cultural trend of hooking up gaining popularity worldwide. What is this trend called hookup culture? And how does it negatively affect the perceptions of the youth on future relationships and love?

Hooking up, a term used to describe brief sexual activity between two people without any emotional intimacy or committed relationship, has been growing in popularity. Hooking up became more popular in the 1920s due to entertainment systems such as movie theaters. Young adults were freer to explore their sexuality outside of the home than when courtship took place under parental supervision. Nowadays, it is more normal and socially acceptable to engage in sexual behavior outside of committed traditional pair relationships (American Psychology Association). The fear arising from the new cultural trend has made many ISB high schoolers question if there is any hope for a relationship in this era. Would people instead hook up than indulge in a relationship?

High School junior Jeremy Stuit says hookup culture is quite prominent in ISB, with a few relationships springing up here and there. He quickly adds, “a lot of them (relationships) are short-term.” While Stuit acknowledges the several relationships he has witnessed, high school senior Iman Amirmokri says, “Teenage romance in ISB does not exist.” He explains how there is more hooking up in ISB because students “don't want to put labels on themselves.” Both answers point in the direction that the students at ISB believe their school has a more robust culture for hooking up than dating. “100% more hooking up,” Says Gabe Winkles, a senior at ISB, “people are scared to commit to relationships; hooking up is much easier.” To add on, Sophomore Katie Murray says that the hooking up is not only between ISB students but with students in other schools in Bangkok.

So What factors continue to drive this culture? Iman Amirmokri believes social media drives this culture and plays an essential role in reducing emotions. Famous influencers on social media apps promote an unhealthy perception of relationships by pushing toxic masculinity on men to show less emotion. This encourages men to be less vulnerable, “being vulnerable is a large part of a relationship,” says Iman Amirmokri, “influencers push toxic masculinity and being less vulnerable,” the opposite of what builds a relationship. Due to social media, the youth obsess over hooking up. What happened to going on dates? Have we given up on keeping the romance alive in our species? Gabe Winkles also believes a crucial factor of this new culture is “the media and rap music influence hookup culture, making it more appealing to younger people.” With the recent surge of rap music gaining popularity in the past decade, artists have promoted an unhealthy view of women and sex for young teenagers. “Porn is another huge factor in hookup culture,” Gabe expresses, “because it glamorizes sex without the emotional attachment.” Porn has become accessible with just a few buttons and has already been speculated as a driving factor in this trending hookup culture.

But why are students so afraid of committing to relationships? Katie Murray says society judges you for “being too needy,” which affects your outlook on relationships. She also said, “I will never tell anyone I like them,” and continued to say the reason was because of society. Similarly, Jeremy Stuit also said people worry about being too needy, which prevents them from pursuing relationships. He says, “Especially among men, they don't want to be seen as vulnerable because they fear how other people will perceive them.” This stained view on relationships has been increasing in popularity and has even affected high school students. This current cultural trend has the potential to affect our future lives. Not indulging in relationships at a younger age results in less practice and knowledge for future commitments.

Citations

Garcia, Justin R. “Sexual Hook-up Culture.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Feb. 2013, www.apa.org/monitor/2013/02/ce-corner.