Welcome Back: Women weigh in on prevalence of casual sex on campuses

College has long been the scene of drunken encounters and summer flings. Rather than long-term relationships, certain students partake in short-term alternatives such as friends with benefits, according to media stereotypes and conventional wisdom.

Many students in university say they engage in casual, short-term relationships because they are afraid that long-term commitments might interfere with their careers. Although society might assume that men are more likely than women to look for casual sex, evidence suggests that women might casually “hook up” as often as or more than men.

But members of at least one student organization at Pitt consider casual sex an obstacle, not a means, to personal growth.

As a member of the student group Off the Hook, Emily Blume, a junior majoring in English literature, works to promote healthy relationships in place of casual sex. A clergyman from a Catholic church near campus serves as the group’s mentor, facilitating discussions on sexual integrity and personal dignity. 

“Both men and women who are immersed in a careerist atmosphere postpone thinking about marriage and family, and their lives and values are fixated on the workplace,” Blume said in an email.

Rather than businesslike hookups, Off the Hook encourages students to have relationships with more permanence and commitment, Blume said. Students can have a “full, flourishing college life” without one-night stands.

But according to another student organization, the risks of hooking up are more hygienic than emotional or moral.

Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood works to raise awareness on different aspects of human sexuality. The student group tries to do so through lobbying, movie nights, volunteering at the local Planned Parenthood clinic and distributing condoms to patrons at local bars.

“Our condom crawls tend to be well-received,” Nicole Toney, the club’s adviser, said.

Toney, an epidemiologist and researcher at Pitt’s Department of Critical Care Medicine, said she thought the group’s efforts have been popular on campus.

“We provide individuals with condoms and also use the opportunity to talk about the clinic, available services the clinic offers, promote advocacy and collect contact information for anyone interested in learning more about Planned Parenthood or how to become a volunteer,” Toney said.

The evidence on whether or not hooking up is all that common at universities — and who’s having it — is mixed.

Elizabeth Armstrong, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, thought the behaviors were because of the thought that relationships were demanding and distracting. Focusing on self-development and independence, Armstrong said, women delay looking for love until later, after they’ve become established.

Paula England, a sociology professor at New York University, surveyed more than 14,000 students about hookups, dating and relationship experiences. According to a 2010 report published in the American Sociological Association’s quarterly, England found that most students don’t hook up as often as conventional wisdom suggests. 

England found that 80 percent of students were hooking up an average of less than once per semester over the courses of their college careers.

“Hooking up isn’t the rampant, hedonistic free-for-all portrayed by the media,” the sociologists who wrote the report on England’s study wrote.

The report also argued that women enjoy sex more within the context of a relationship.

But Irene Frieze, a Pitt sociologist and researcher, said some of her students’ findings among peers suggested otherwise.

“A couple of years ago, two different students in my interpersonal relations class were trying to replicate the often-cited traditional finding that men were more interested in casual sex than women, and neither was able to do that,” Frieze said.

She attributed interest in casual sex among women as a sign of increasing autonomy.

“As women become more independent, they seem to be more willing to accept their own needs,” she said.