The Link Between College Hook-up Culture and Sexual Assault
INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS
Sexual assault on college campuses has become increasingly common over the last few decades, yet many institutions fail to address the issue effectively, or at all. As a result of the recent ongoing fluctuations in college social culture, it may be difficult to pinpoint an exact stimulus as to why sexual assault reports and crimes continue to be prevalent on American college campuses. There are various possible risk factors that can possibly lead to an encounter in which sexual assault or rape occurs. One significant factor that has been introduced quite recently is the emergence of hookup culture. This culture has been able to rise in popularity because of the nature of college campuses. Students are in such close proximity to others in their field of eligibles who may become a potential sexual partner, and also have access to countless bars and clubs where they can meet those individuals. The continual breakdown of traditional gender roles and greater tolerance for pre-marital sex also play a role in the recent appeal of hook-up culture (Pham, 2017).
The prevalence of hook-up culture may be to blame for the increase in reported number of incidences of sexual assault on college campuses. Hook-up culture at universities openly and easily accepts sex — casual sex for that matter — and does not force emotional connections or extended commitments upon either party. This makes it somewhat effortless for students to gain desired sexual pleasures without creating any probable emotional attachments for the student. In fact, about 70% of college students, men and women, have said they have experienced a hook-up (Sutton & Simons, 2014). Previously, sexual assault among college students was known to occur more often in situations where students were romantically dating (Flack et al., 2007). Hook-up culture has shown to be a legitimate risk factor for sexual assault, but it requires more research because hook-up culture is a modern trend that does not have a considerable amount of evidence. College campuses and other researchers need to be alerted as more data is available, collected, and analyzed on the topic of hook-up culture.
The research can aim to help young students, particularly females, navigate their way through college without the constant worry and reminder of the frequency of assault on campus. There is great concern surrounding the topic of sexual assault because of the implications brought upon the victim after the initial encounter. When young students go to college, especially young women, they are lectured on sexual assault and how to spot and avoid situations that may lead to these unwanted behaviors. When young women leave home to attend a university, it should be more important to inform them on how succeed as new college students, get involved in clubs and organizations, and to plan for their future, not how to master the art of avoiding sexual assault.
This research is also relevant to the health of college students as a general population. Being a victim of an assault can leave students with issues that will follow them for the rest of their lives. Many victims of sexual assault are known to experience frequent stress and anxiety, which they may never be able to rid themselves of. Peers of victims of sexual assault are also prone to mental issues because of the inability to understand or fully support the victim through turbulent times.
The purpose of this research is to examine the risk factors that can lead to unwanted sexual behaviors such as sexual assault and rape. The main factor that will be studied is hook-up culture along with the factors that contributed to the hook up itself, such as alcohol consumption. It has been recognized that hook-up culture may be linked to the occurances of sexual assault because of the consumption of alcohol, casual sexual, and social behaviors (Barriger and Velez-Blasini, 2013).
This research will focus centrally on hook-up culture as the main risk factor, in unison with the consumption of alcohol by the students, and the frequency of that consumption. As the climate of college culture continues to change, more students are engaging in casual sexual encounters over emotionally intimate ones. With this, I predict that sexual assault is more likely to occur in situations where hooking up occurs, and that those who participate in hook-up culture are more likely to be sexually assaulted or raped without proper consent. I also hypothesize that alcohol plays an important role as well, being that if alcohol is present, consumed, and the student becomes intoxicated, the risk of sexual assault will only increase.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH & METHODS
To explore the various risk factors for sexual assault including hook-up culture and alcohol consumption, I will perform a literature review of scholarly, peer-reviewed publications that focus on the stated risk factors and their connections to sexual assault. There are limited resources that focus on whether hooking up increases, decreases, or does not affect the risk of sexual assault over other single factors; But there have been more qualitative studies that have focused on hook-up culture compared to quantitative studies. In this review, I will focus primarily on young women as the victims of sexual assault primarily because in most reported cases, males are the perpetrator and females are the victims.
I will include statistics from “Sexual Assault Among College Students: Family of Origin Hostility, Attachment, and the Hook-Up Culture as Risk Factors” (Sutton & Simons, 2014) to support my hypothesis. These statistics aim to provide a clear link between the growing normative college culture and the increasing reports of sexual assaults on college campuses. The study was conducted by selecting a random sample of college students in five social science classes, and giving those students an anonymous hand-written questionnaire survey to fill out honestly. Note: students were allowed to discontinue the survey at any time if they felt uncomfortable in any way. Student’s were able to fill out the survey privately, to attempt to reduce any response or non-response biases (Sutton & Simons, 2014). This research also provides insight into other factors that lead to hook-ups and sexual assault on college campuses, and if there is any given connections between the factors.
Below, literature reviews are included to provide basic information and to support the stated hypothesis. In Barriger and Velez-Blasini’s (2013) research, behavioral qualities and patterns are studied and examine the presence of the predictive factors of hook-ups. There are a variety of factors that are associated with an individual student’s likelihood to engage in a casual sexual encounter, which in turn may place that individual in a position where he or she is more susceptible to be a victim of sexual assault. Another study by Littleton et al. (2009) provides more insight into the frequency of the elements of hook-ups and sexual assault, and categorizes script type (rape or hook-up) and the outcomes.
In this research, it is necessary to define the frequently used terms to ensure overall understanding and data validity. The terms have various meanings depending on the individuals’ view and the context the term is used in. The terms and definitions for this paper are as follow:
A hook-up will be defined as a casual sexual encounter between two individuals. This may occur once or many times with the same or different individuals.
Hook-up culture will be defined as the embodiment of activities in which individuals create intimacy with a member of the chosen sex without intent for a serious or long-term relationship.
Sexual assault will be defined as any unwanted, harmful sexual behaviors towards an individual that include rape, non-consensual touching, intercourse, or genital-oral contact (Flack et al., 2007).
RESEARCH PART I: ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
On college campuses across the nation, mainstream hook up culture has become largely intertwined with the social lives of many students. During the idealized, or “typical”, college experience, students are exposed to large social gatherings where alcohol is presumed to be present, which makes the prime opportunity for a no-strings attached hookup, in which students participate in sexual activities simply for pleasure (Pham, 2017).
Alcohol consumption can lead to overly-intoxicated or incapacitated students, which makes it a distinguishable factor in predicting incidences of sexual assault. In at least half of the incidences of reported sexual assault, alcohol is known to be a linked factor; And about half of college students are known to binge-drink at one point or another (Beaver, 2017). Taking this into consideration, the link between alcohol, hook-ups, and sexual assault becomes clear. Also, in the study by Littleton et al., (2009) “ Three (13%) of the rape victims stated that the rape started out as a hook-up. A total of 65.2% of rape victims had engaged in binge drinking prior to the assault,” (798) providing evidence that the unspoken, most unfavorable type of sexual assault can stem from what was thought to originally be a casual hook-up, alongside alcohol consumption.
RESEARCH PART II: HOOK-UP CULTURE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
In a study conducted a sample of college students, those students who stated having engaged in hook-ups in the past were actually more likely to report sexual assault than those who did not engage in casual sexual encounters (Flack et al., 2017). Engagement in hook-up culture is associated with a rise in sexual assault cases, with said perpetration among men and victimization among women. Campus hook-up culture, in unison with alcohol consumption, creates an environment where sexual assault is more common.
From Sutton & Simons (2014) study, “43.3 % of men [in the sample] report perpetrating some form of sexual assault, and 50.4 % of women reported being a victim of some form of sexual assault” (2833-2834). For men, perpetration of assault onto a victim is shown to have a positive correlation with hook-up culture (Sutton & Simons, 2014). As casual sex becomes more common and acceptable with college students, the perpetrators may be led to believe that engaging in non-consenting behaviors with victims is also acceptable.
In the study by Littleton et al., (2009) “among all assault victims, 22% reported that the experience started out as a hook-up,” (797) and many who engaged in hook-ups were known to binge-drink as well. Clearly, casual hook-ups do not always end up as originally planned; Abusers may be taking advantage of this new culture and using it for their own personal benefit at another’s expense. The evidence collected from the data above presents a strong connection between alcohol consumption, hook-up culture, and sexual assault on college campuses. The risk of sexual assault evidently increases if either factor, or a combination of both factors is present.
DISCUSSION
Taking into consideration all sources, studies, and findings, hook-up culture is a relevant and significant risk factor for sexual assault. The normality of hooking up may only make it a more controversial factor in the future. The chosen literature assisted in piecing together findings of alcohol and hook-up culture’s relationship with sexual assault reports.
Another factor that should be taken into consideration is the college male’s sense of entitlement and power. This is linked to the family dynamic the students grew up in, and parenting styles the students were exposed to (Richardson et al., 2017). In combination with other factors, it may become easier to notice the general type of individuals that are more likely to be the perpetrators of sexual assault crimes.
One limitation of the study is the gender roles given; I am aware that sexual assault is not always a male perpetrator, and a female victim. The research mainly studies this interaction because it is where most reports are known to occur. It is difficult to find literature mainly based on hook-up culture because it is a fairly new trend on college campuses. So, I had to recognize alcohol consumption as a factor of hook-ups, and both as factors for sexual assault.
In the future, more research needs to be conducted on college campuses. As stated before, hooking up is a newer trend that needs to be studied in depth. The studies from the literature are all mainly cross-sectional, and do not look into the past. So for the future, I think researchers need to look in the long term of students, men and women, who are participating in hook-up culture on their college campus. Long term studies on this topic will be more helpful in determining the exact ways hook-up culture influences incidences of sexual assault. College campuses need to develop new alternatives to deal with the changing social patterns. Also, because it may be difficult for faculty at universities to halt these instances where sexual assault may or may not occur, proper measures need to be taken at the higher level to respond to these situations. Proper education on sex, and sexual violence, for faculty and students needs to be available as well. One such way is through “safe spaces,” which give individuals a place to ask questions without being ashamed (Graybill et al., 2017).
Conclusion
The findings have shown to support my hypothesis; However, to be certain of this statement more studies need to be conducted in the future to prove the data valid and reliable. Hooking up is a high-risk type of sexual experience for young women in college. Hook-up culture shows to have too high of a correlation to sexual assault and rape culture for it to be a healthy activity for such high numbers of college-aged women to participate in. With the ever changing climate of college culture, it seems difficult to pinpoint hook-up culture as a sole leading factor in sexual assault cases. But, it is quite obvious that hook-up culture does play a significant role in the occurances of sexual assault on college campuses, especially when other factors are added into the mix. These factors include alcohol presence and consumption. Considering those added components, the connection between hook-up culture and sexual assault becomes readily apparent.
References
Barriger, M., & Vélez-Blasini, C. J. (2013). Descriptive and injunctive social norm overestimation in hooking up and their role as predictors of hook-up activity in a college student sample. Journal of Sex Research, 50(1), 84-94.
Beaver, W. R. (2017). Campus sexual assault: What we know and what we don't. Independent Review, 22(2), 257-268.
Flack, W. F., Jr.; Daubman, K.A.; Caron, M. L.; Asadorian, J. A.; D'Aureli, N. R.; Gigliotti, S. N.; Hall, A. T.; Kiser, S.; Stine, E. R. (2007). Risk factors and consequences of unwanted sex among university students: Hooked up, alcohol, and stress response. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(2), 139-157.
Graybill, R., Minister, M., & Lawrence, B. (2017). Sexual violence in and around the classroom. Teaching Theology & Religion, 20(1), 70-88.
Littleton, H., Tabernik, H., Canales, E., & Backstrom, T. (2009). Risky situation or harmless fun? A qualitative examination of college Women’s bad hook-up and rape scripts. Sex Roles, 60(11-12), 793-804.
Pham, J. M. (2017). Beyond hookup culture: Current trends in the study of college student sex and where to next. Sociology Compass, (8)
Richardson, E., Simons, L., & Futris, T. (2017). Linking family-of-origin experiences and perpetration of sexual coercion: College males' sense of entitlement. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 26(3), 781-791.
Sutton, T., & Simons, L. (2015). Sexual assault among college students: Family of origin hostility, attachment, and the hook-up culture as risk factors. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 24(10), 2827-2840.