Blog 4 - Dating & Mating

Question: According to Risman and Schwartz article, what are the main trends in sexual activity among teens? How do the authors explain these trends? According to England and Thomas, what are the main trends in romantic and sexual behavior among college students? What gender differences are documented in both of these articles? Compare these authors' observations to your own high school and college experiences.

In the Risman and Schwartz article, “After the Sexual Revolution: Gender Politics in Teen Dating,” the authors point out and discuss the apparent sexual trends of teens of the late 20^th and early 21^st century. Although the majority of Americans regard teen sexuality as a social problem, Risman and Schwartz do not view teen sexuality as being that problematic.
These authors argue that “sexual exploration may in fact be part of the developmental journey of adolescence” (23). One of the main trends in sexual activity among teens is that teenagers, especially girls, are becoming more sexually responsible rather than less sexually active. Girls have been found to have an increasing control over conditions of sexual intercourse which have led to positive outcomes. Through studies it has been illustrated that women have responded to the threat of disease as well as pregnancy and insisted on the use of condoms (19). Subsequently, the insistence of wearing condoms has resulted in fewer teen pregnancies, fewer teenage mothers and fewer abortions. The ways in which teens are defining sex have also had a positive impact. More girls are now defining sex as part of a relationship. Girls are presumed sexually active inside, but not outside, romantic relationships. However, despite their success of sexual responsibility girls are still faced with the double standard. Many girls are still worried about being labeled a slut and seem to be more susceptible to being judged than are teenage boys.
Overall, Risman and Schwartz have concluded through their research that nearly all American youths are sexually active by the end of their teens. Since teens are becoming more sexually responsible and there has been a dramatic decline of negative consequence resulting from teenage sexual intercourse both authors agree that the rising trend of sexuality among teens is not a social problem, but rather a construction of the sexual revolution.

In the article, The Decline of the Date and the Rise of the College Hook Up, England and Thomas have concluded from their research that among college students traditional dating, as defined in the 20s and 50s, is virtually dead. Because dating was considered to be the most traveled pathway into romantic relationship England and Thomas were asking themselves: how do people end up in relationships if the usual considered method is categorized as being archaic? The answer, they discovered, is a hook up. A “hook up” is essentially something sexual that happens between two people while hanging out. “A hook up implies that something sexual happened, but not necessarily that you “had sex,” by which students mean sexual intercourse” (154). England and Thomas found that oral sex “which used to be less common, and practiced largely by couples who were already having intercourse, came to be much less serious or intimate” (161). Furthermore, “hooking up with someone doesn’t necessarily imply an interest in a relationship, although sometimes it leads to relationships” (153). More college students have formed relationships via a hook up than the traditional method of dating. In fact, more students considered themselves “dating” someone after they were already in an exclusive relationship.
Although current sexual trends among collegiate women demonstrate that women have the option of more sexual behavior than the past, “women are receiving less genital stimulation conducive to orgasm than men in hook ups” (157). For women, the double standard is also still present. “Students often talked about how women get a bad reputation – among men and women – if they hook up too much, or with too many men who know each other, or have sex too easily” (158). Women were also the ones who showed more interest in turning hook up into relationships and were also the ones who wanted to limit sexual intercourse to relationships.

As I was reading both of these articles I couldn’t help but be amazed about how true they were. It seemed as if England and Thomas could have conducted their study at Boston College or any other college for that matter. I do agree that while some people have pledged to stay virgin until marriage, I have noticed that people have become more sexually responsible (i.e. using birth control and condoms) than becoming less sexually active. Dating, in the tradition sense, has definitely been waned out and been replaced by the hook up. When people say that they are dating it really means that they are already in an exclusive relationship.