Hooking Up at College Isn’t as Big a Deal as You May Think

You’ve left home and started a college career with great hopes of learning great things, studying hard so you can make something of yourself and – oh yes, hooking up with someone of the opposite sex as often as possible.  Isn’t that what college is all about?  Isn’t everyone doing “it” every second of every day?  Not so fast, cowboy.  According to recent research, the tall tales of sexual conquest on campus may be a whole lot of talk and not so much action.

Casual Sex Not Widespread

Researchers have concluded that the notion of casual sex on college is not that widespread and may actually be more talk than action.

To test their theory the researchers – who maintained a detached and hands-off approach, no doubt – interviewed almost 300 college students and asked them pointedly, “How often do you hook up?”  That included anything from making out to intercourse.  They found that just over half of the students indicated they had hooked up with someone at school during the academic year.  Sixty-three percent of the male students interviewed were more likely to say that they had hooked up (not a big surprise there), while only 45 percent of the women said they had participated in a close encounter of the sexual kind.

However, the students’ ideas were not exactly realistic.  The researchers found that while 45 percent of students said they’d never hook up with anyone, only 3.7 percent believe that a typical student never actually hooked up.  And, only 37 percent said they’d hooked up with someone two or more times, but 90 percent of students believed that two or more hookups were typical for students.

Talking About Sex

While the actual deed may have been more rare than some students think, talking about it was very common with 84 percent of students reporting having had a conversation with their friends at school about hooking up.  And the more people that discussed hooking up the more likely they were to approve of and perhaps take part in such activities.

Cold shower anyone?

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