“I love giving head. Simple. As. That.” : How College Hook-up Culture Both Challenges and Upholds Oppressive Ideologies of Gender and Sexuality

In this project I interpret how the ideas of gender performativity and compulsory heterosexuality can inform our understanding of college hook-up culture. I focus on the following questions: How do we use these hetero-gendered roles to make meaning of our experiences in hook-up culture? To what extent does the dominance of this script limit our ability to imagine alternatives to the hook-up? Through this analysis we can begin to address the problematic realities visible in hook-up culture, as well as recognizing the increased agency provided through these new social scripts. I utilize an untapped academic resource, analyzing posts from a “FLC Confessions” a website allowing students to write anonymously about their experiences within hook-up culture. I code all posts describing sexual encounters for terms and concepts relating directly to gender, heterosexuality and the dominance of the hook-up script. I organize data into groups reflecting the three most prevalent types of relationship referenced: long-term monogamous partners, long-term non-monogamous partners, and short-term non-monogamous partners. I find these encounters to provide a wide diversity of experiences both challenging and upholding hegemonic ideologies of gender and sexuality. I argue that the hook-up script has in many ways increased sexual agency, but its dominance veils alternative scripts, severely limiting the choices of participants