Unhooked By Laura Sessions Stepp Critque Analysis

The title of the book explains itself. The topic of sex and love with women today can meet both sides of the spectrum. With the evolution of society, from the flapper’s in the 1920’s to the “Independent Women” today, there are many questions to be asked and answers to dissect. What is considered hooking-up exactly? Is there a double standard for men and women when it comes to sex? Where and how does sex fall into place in high school or college? Do parent know what middle-school kids are doing these days? Does the pressure of school, work and being successful effect hooking-up? Is the “Hook-Up” culture the same in America compared to other countries? Will casual sex ruin the practice of long-term relationships and marriage? Is the Media to blame? Chicks before Dicks? Bro’s before Hoe’s? The Hooking-Up phenomenon has taken its course, what’s in store for the future?

I looked up term of “Hooking-up” on Urbandictionary.com, an online dictionary of slang terms. I got two definitions of what people thought hooking-up was,

“Hooking up with someone, making out with them, but not going all the way. Note that "hooking up" may mean you went all the way in some places.

“To hook up is to do anything from make-out to have sex, with someone you are not in a relationship with.”

In UnHooked, Stepp follows several girls who had different agendas on their mind when it came to hooking-up.

There are different meanings and consequences when it comes to hooking up between men and women. It is has been known that men favor casual sex and women favor long-term relationships. This was shown in class by a study, where it said that men are more likely to have sex with a female stranger than a woman having sex with a male stranger. Erik von Markovich, or “Mystery” one of the best “Pick-Up Artist” in the world and also social dynamics expert wrote about this concept. In his book The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed. He explains the main reason behind sex is to survive and replicate. Both men and women need each other to survive and replicate their genes. He talks about the reason women don’t sleep around as much as men do is because since our ancestors, women have greater investments and risks during sexual intercourse. They are at risk of getting pregnant and if that happens, they need to rely on the man’s resources. There are virtually no repercussions for men; ten minutes for him, nine months for her. Men can easily spread their seed and leave, also known today as “hit n’ split” or “rail n’ bail”. If this were to be found out, her reputation would be known as a “slut” which would decrease her prospects of surviving and replicating. This is why women tend to want long-term relationships because in the event it does happen, because they have formed and emotional pair bond between each other. They know their partner will be by her side to rear their child.

Decades ago, hooking-up was considered taboo. Back in the 50’s, there was a template that everyone followed. The guy would ask the girl out to milkshakes and burgers and a movie, this would go on for a couple of dates, after the guy courts her female companion, they make their trip to “Lover’s Lane”. It used to be casual dating before sex but as times went liberal, young adults adopted the slogan of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll. It seems that things are opposite, to start casual dating, you must hook-up first to see if you’re good enough to date”.

This trend has become a standard in most colleges. College is the best years of your life but it is also the most stressful. Most students are full-time, work part-time jobs, have internships or play sports. Being in a relationship can really be stressful and distracting, which is un-needed. This is why hooking-up has taken over dating because it gives people the physical part and not the emotional part. Usually a person has a “friend-with-benefits” or a “Fuck Buddy”, maybe even two or three of them. There are cases in which they don’t talk to each other during the week, only the weekends. They don’t talk about it but they know it’s going to happen. A phone call or text at one in the morning “Hey what are you up too?” only means one thing, “Let’s fuck”.

Hooking-up has made its way to young teens. A couple of years ago, there was an incident near my hometown where two 7th grade girls were caught giving blowjobs in the boys bathroom for five dollars. There have been several incident like this heard on the news where young teens perform sexual acts. This is due to the social norms created by the media. An article I found on thefreelibrary.com, talks about how the media portrays sex as casual and unimportant. The teens agree that television, movies, and music add to the pressure of wanting to have sex. Robert, a college senior, who’s goal was to lose his virginity before he graduated high-school said "I didn't want to go into college being a virgin, because movies like American Pie made it clear you lost your virginity in high school." A study conducted at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that Two thirds of all television shows have some sexual content, including one in three with sexual behaviors; One in seven shows now includes sexual intercourse; and In the top twenty shows among teen viewers, eight in ten episodes included some sexual content, including one in five with sexual intercourse.

Combine raging hormones and the need to “fit in”, the solution will lead to intimacy. An article about hooking-up on sexetc.org talks about Fifteen-year-old Brooke “Hooking up has helped me mature a lot. I’ve really looked at who I am and what I value as a person because of my experiences, and now I realize that I’m in control. I’m a lot more comfortable being myself around new people, and I’m definitely more confident with guys”. Brooke’s story seems similar to many girls that Stepp talked about in her book. The article also talks about use of hooking-up as an alternative to masturbation as a way to getting to know how their bodies work.

With the increase of multiple partners, one hopes that everyone is using a condom or a contraceptive. At