One Night of Pleasure or Risk: Hook-Up Culture and Sexual Violence

Sexual violence on post-secondary campuses is highly problematic. While sexual violence has been recognized as a health issue and social concern for many years, it is only recently that sexual violence and its concerning effects of victimization have merited closer attention from media. This media attention has, subsequently, resulted in a public outcry and has forced post-secondary institutions to implement sexual violence policies and programming. However, it has also led to an explosion of studies within academia. One of the areas that has not been studied extensively in the past but is increasing today is the study of uncommitted sexual encounters—otherwise known as hook-ups—in connection to sexual violence.Many studies concerning sexual violence discuss items that place an individual at higher risk for experiencing sexual violence, and one of the many risks is engagement in hook-ups. While engagement in hook-ups increases the risk of sexual violence victimization, it is questionable as to whether or not students are aware of this reality. With today's attitudes surrounding relationships and intimacy, it is difficult to measure this, as, according to some, engagement in hook-up culture simply fills one's desire for pleasure. In other words, perhaps the thoughts around engaging in hook-ups are less focused on the idea that there may be a risk for violence. Because it is unknown as to whether or not students conceptualize engagement in hook-up culture with sexual violence, this study seeks to discover the extent to which students conceptualize connections between sexual violence and hook-ups. Discipline: Sociology (Honours) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kalyani Thurairaja