What’s the DEAL with hooking up?

I found this article on loquitor.com and it makes some pretty good points on the ambiguity of the term hooking up.  We’ve already discussed how confusing it can be when someone says that “he hooked up last night” or “oh, we just hooked up” because it can mean any variety of things.  They hung out?  They made out? They rounded third base?!  

What this article points out is that there is a reason for this lack of definition for the term.  It is the new way to say “we did something yada yada yada” or “et cetra et cetra.”  This allows young men and women to admit to having had some sort of sexual contact with another but saves the person from having to give details on what exactly happened.

But what this article says exactly is that it saves “the girl” from having to admit how far she went.  I think it’s interesting how they have to fill the gender roles and claim that it is the female who is expressing a form of sexual liberation but that it is something she is ashamed of.  Even if this could be what is happening with some girls, making this claim that some women are ashamed only perpetuates the notion that women should not embrace their sexuality and sexual desires.

what are you?

After thinking about the Jonas Brothers and other assorted teen stars and their promise rings, I wanted to learn more about the concept of virginity and losing it. So, I started reading Virginity Lost: An intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences by Laura M. Carpenter. In Carpenter’s research for the book, she found that the people she interviewed almost always defined or described their virginity in one of three categories: a gift, a stigma, or a step in the process.

So how would you define it for yourself?

Don’t worry, there’ll certainly be more about this book, but I just wanted to get started thinking broadly about it.

a little adendum to the definition of hooking up

This is a great little clip from the show “My Boys” about the ambiguous definition of hooking up

sorry, it won’t embed so you’ll have to click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb0IQsdG5Qs

so what exactly is hooking up?

I figured that my first real post would try to answer the question: what exactly is a hook-up? It may be one of the most ambiguously used phrases floating around a college campus. When I heard “Billy hooked-up with Susie last night” am I supposed to assume that they just made out or that they had sex?

So to see other people’s opinions on hooking-up I went to one of my favorite sources, Urbandictionary.com.

The most highly rated definition was:

An incredibly ambiguous phrase that drives me absolutely insane when people use it.

John hooked up with Mary. (so what did they actually do? Did they meet at hte park? Did they talk? or did they make love like rabbits? who knows…)

Another one of the highly rated definitions was: