The Health Center and organizations like the Student Health Educators (SHEs) serve a vital role on campus. I appreciate the importance of providing a sexually active population with access to knowledge and medical services, especially given the practice of having brief sexual relationships with many different partners that is so prevalent on campus. I think it is regrettable, however, that this is the only type of education being conducted on the topic of hooking up. Freshman orientation, an excellent venue for discussion, focuses entirely on physical health and consent when addressing sexual culture. Even the Peer Advocates of Sexual Respect (PAs), an organization designed to promote positive relationships, tends to emphasize only these basic (though still sadly underappreciated) issues in relation to sex. As a member of the PAs, I accept some responsibility for what I see as a campus-wide failure to address a significant issue. I recognize that some of this reluctance to examine hooking up as a practice stems from a well-meaning desire to be nonjudgmental and accepting of personal decisions, but I think we need to question our campus' sexual culture.
I have no quarrel with the idea of a one-time, mutually satisfying physical encounter, where consent is verbally communicated by both parties and valuable SHE advice is put to practice. I do feel, however, that this ideal hookup is much harder to achieve than the simple "stop, ask, clarify" and "use a condom" messages would suggest. We, as a student body, need to give more thought to the dynamics that surround hooking up. Why, for example, is alcohol such an important factor? If this kind of sexual behavior was truly positive, I don't think we would need to provide ourselves with an excuse to engage in it. Does getting consent really ensure that both parties' desires are aligned? Both may want sex, but more discussion is needed to determine if post-hookup expectations are the same-for proof, just think of those awkward Val encounters on Sunday mornings. From the perspective of female empowerment and gender equality, is a woman's ability to have purely sexual relationships truly liberating? I would argue that a significant double standard exists, as a man's social status may increase with his number of sexual partners, but the same cannot be said for a woman.
Without investigating these issues, even an ostensibly safe and consensual hookup may be quite unhealthy. By drawing attention to an area of thought that is both significant and neglected, I hope to find some better answers to the troubling questions concerning sexual dynamics on campus. Amherst's hookup culture must not remain so poorly understood.
Claire is a junior majoring in economics, but her interest in relationship dynamics and warm, fuzzy feelings partially balances her cold, capitalist spirit. You can reach her at cmorrison08@amherst.edu.