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I’ve pondered with you before on this blog (HERE) of the disappearance of something we used to call “dating”  wherein a young man would summon the courage to ask a young lady out to dinner, perhaps to the movies. He would do something called getting “dressed up,” and go to the young woman’s house,  often meet her parents, take her out for the evening, and return her home at a respectable hour. Dating was something that one did beginning in late high school or in college. Youth too young to date were often encouraged by adults to meet one another, and so the adults often...

Kerry Cronin, who teaches a philosophy class at Boston College, was shocked some years ago during a class on student hookup culture, when a student inquired, “How would you ask someone on a date?” “It’s easy to hook up with someone you’ve just met in a dark room after having a few drinks,” said freshman Frank DiMartino, who took the class. “But asking someone out on a date in broad daylight, when you actually have to know their name, can be really scary.” Other schools are apparently taking notice of the need to explain the socialization/dating procedure, according to The...

My nephew and his squeeze are talking marriage. They've been childhood sweethearts since 6th grade - they're now both 21. He wants a 'prenup', a prenuptial agreement, and she's never heard of such a thing. Should they have one? Some background: they are each others best friend and confidant. When he left his grandfather's house after high school graduation to be more independent and encountered roughened circumstances, she supported him while she worked at WalMart, and together they became partners in a business that failed. Nephew moved back home while she went to school. But that's not all - her...

The American Sociological Assn.’s annual meeting got underway Friday in Denver, and among the weighty topics to be discussed is the practice of “hooking up.” For any readers who are not familiar, hooking up refers to “casual sexual activity,” according to one of the more tame definitions offered by Urban Dictionary. A study to be presented on Monday focuses on the social consequences for those who engage in frequent hookups. Two researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago examined responses from more than 19,000 students who completed the Online College Social Life Survey last year. They found that both...

As we go about our lives, there is something happening around us that is not deemed “newsworthy” or “important” by many people. It’s toxic, troubling, and traumatic. It’s happening on college campuses. It’s happening next door to you. It’s the white elephant in the room that everybody notices, but does not want to address for countless reasons. It’s what our generation praises and feels empowered by, but refuses to let their parents know about. And shockingly enough, it’s happening at conservative conferences thanks to people who do not practice what they preach. So what is it? It’s the hookup culture....

Earlier this week, I got a frantic call from a friend whose daughter has been away for her first semester at college. “She’s not bringing her boyfriend home,” my friend wailed. “In fact, she says he’s not really her boyfriend at all!” The “he” in question was a male my friend’s daughter had repeatedly mentioned she spent time with socially: going to the movies and out to dinner, seeing concerts, once spending an entire weekend camping at a state park. Oh, there were always other people around, but the regularity of their contact led my friend to believe her daughter...

In the digital age, having an affair has never been easier. Author Angela Levin spent five months interviewing middle-class professionals for an extensive study that charts the rise of the no-strings-attached* relationship. In the first of a three-part investigation, she reveals why the UK is in the grip of an infidelity epidemic. 'Been left parked in the garage of marriage too long, battery getting flat and needs somebody to give it a spark of life, full tank and ready to go. "Present owner does not like going for a ride any more but am not up for sale. Seeking discreet...

Last month, a boy asked my 16-year-old daughter to his school's homecoming dance. She agreed to go, bought a new dress and made a hairdresser appointment. The boy never bought tickets to the dance. Neither did his friends. They decided that attending homecoming wouldn't be cool, and instead planned to just dress up that night, go out for dinner and then hang out with their dates at someone's house. My daughter was disappointed, as were her girlfriends. They would have loved to have been taken to the dance, to show off their dresses, to see and be seen. At 6...

In a culture where young women take pride in having guilt-free sex with partners they barely know, Nolan and Aparicio are rarities. They have genuine boyfriends, not hook ups. "I don't know anyone else who's in a relationship, do you?" Nolan asks Aparicio. Nope, no one else. Hooking up has come to define sexual relationships for most of today's teens and young women. It can mean anything from kissing and touching to oral sex or intercourse. Vagueness is its hallmark. "A girl can say, 'I hooked up with so-and-so,' and no one knows what she did. It protects you and...

Eat right. Avoid cigarettes. ...college kids hear this wisdom from their university health-services and wellness officials. However, it is unlikely that these same students will hear this gem: “Casual sexual liaisons on college campuses are hazardous, especially for young women." [snip] In Unprotected, Dr. Grossman posits that one reason college health services are inundated with depression, eating disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases is that health professions have failed to address the medical and psychological risks of unrestrained sexual behavior. She also presents the effects of sexual license on long-term infertility in women, the effects of abortion on the mental health...

Eat right. Avoid cigarettes. ...college kids hear this wisdom from their university health-services and wellness officials. However, it is unlikely that these same students will hear this gem: “Casual sexual liaisons on college campuses are hazardous, especially for young women." [snip] In Unprotected, Dr. Grossman posits that one reason college health services are inundated with depression, eating disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases is that health professions have failed to address the medical and psychological risks of unrestrained sexual behavior. She also presents the effects of sexual license on long-term infertility in women, the effects of abortion on the mental health...

"The so-called sexual revolution is not, as advertised, a liberation of sexual behavior but rather its reversal. In former days, even under Victoria, sexual intercourse was the natural end and culmination of heterosexual relations. Now one begins with genital overtures instead of a handshake, then waits to see what will turn up (e.g., might become friends later). Like dogs greeting each other nose to tail and tail to nose." Walker Percy, The Last Gentleman (1966) Nineteen sixty-six, the year in which Walker Percy's The Last Gentleman was published, is also the year I entered as a first-yearman at the University...