Introduction
Today’s college sex scene is often depicted in media headlines and academic studies as a plague pinning the millennial generation at its core of iniquity. However, a recent study on the “hookup culture,” demonstrated that the chief change in sexual habits for Generation Y is not the amount of sex contemporary college students are having, but the context in which they are choosing to have sex (Monto and Carey 2014). According to this 2014 study, college students are increasingly feeling less obligated to have sex within committed, monogamous relationships, and instead, are more likely to engage in casual intercourse. This change in sexual behavior among contemporary young adults is consistent with cultural shifts in the scripts …show more content…
2012: 4). Women are deemed more sexually passive and responsive to men’s desire within the hookup culture, and consequently, may not feel entitled to communicate their sexual desires in hookups (Armstrong et al. 2012). In this way, the sexual double standard traps college women into pursuing monogamous relationships in an effort to avoid the negative social consequences associated with hookups, and simultaneously promotes a slut shaming culture directed at women who chose to participate in the hookup …show more content…
Studies have demonstrated that a student’s academic success relies largely on self-efficacy, the belief that if a student is confident in his/her work, they are more likely to succeed in their academics (Chemers et. al. 2001). Additionally, this study demonstrated that students with higher GPAs in high school exhibit higher academic self-efficacy, in contrast with students who had lower GPAs in high school. While multiple studies have discussed the elements that affect academic success, very little research has examined the effects of strenuous academics on students’ attitudes towards romance and sexual behaviors. A recent New York Times article, “Sex on Campus: She can Play That Game, Too” briefly explored how women at elite institutions perceive dating and relationships on campus. Interviews with sixty undergraduate women at the University of Pennsylvania found that greater extracurricular opportunities and immense pressure to do well academically has shaped the way that women view relationships in college. These undergraduate women, specifically, viewed relationships in college as potentially distracting from their academic and future career goals, and, instead, found sexual fulfillment through hookups (Taylor 2013). In this way, the hookup culture allows college-aged women to focus on their education and delay discussions associated with marriage and procreation. At