After a long week of midterms and papers, Friday night finally rolls around. The last of the problem sets are turned in, Brody slowly empties out, and power naps are acquired in anticipation for the weekend ahead. As the street lights flicker on and the sun sets behind Gilman Hall, the mood on campus begins to change.
Before you know it, its almost 9:00PM. Girls begin the search for the perfect look, complete with practical shoes and killer hair. They do their make-up just enough so that their eyes pop and their cheeks have a glowing hue, but not so much that it looks like they tried.
In the meantime, guys freshen up and break out the Sperry’s. Throw on a clean shirt and they are ready for a night out.
Finally, its time for the weekend to begin. After a little pre-gaming to go, the people take to the streets. Clusters of friends make their way down St. Paul’s and Charles, meandering their way south of campus. It is time to find a frat where the basement is of bearable temperature, or to chill out at smaller party at a friend’s house on N. Calvert.
Fast forward to twelve hours or so, and its Saturday morning. As people slowly wake up, some of us struggle to remember the previous night. We stare at the ceiling, lie in our beds, and think about all that’s occurred.
What exactly happened in that poorly lit basement, where even the walls dripped sweat? How far did they go after they left their friends on the dance floor? How much did she drink? How much did he push her? Did either ever say “no”? Did anything even happen?
These questions race through the minds of many come the morning after. But usually, the answers can be rationalized when we understand what sort of a “good time” we were pursuing when we decided to “go out.”
Admit it: some nights, we leave our rooms with the sole intention of “getting some.”
Of course, this does not apply to everyone. Even so, a "hook-up culture" does exist on many college campuses, and by no means is Hopkins excluded from this. It seems that dating is becoming rarer, as many students prefer a casual fling requiring little investment and little risk.
One could compare the rules of Friday night to FIFA. We have our team of wing-men and wing-women, which we have carefully chosen to maximize each member’s strength. We try to create a clean sequence to set us up in the perfect position to score. More often than not, our players don’t do exactly as we want, and we miss our chance to progress. We are too slow or the other person is too fast, and we miss our fleeting opportunity. Not to mention, in the background of it all, there is a killer soundtrack propelling the game forward.
With busy schedules and demanding academics, flings can be easier than dating, especially for students at top universities. Casual sex or hook-ups are made easier with social media and other means such as Tinder, an app created for that very purpose. There have been many debates as to whether or not this hook-up culture is hindering emotional development as young adults.
But too frequently,the hook-up culture comes with a negative stigma. Outside of a committed relationship, there is nothing wrong with a one-time hook-up. It is neither a good nor bad thing; it is merely a choice we make. Different people look for different things in relationships, in college and in life. There will always be social expectations, but as long as both participants are consensual and safe, casual sex should not be judged or frowned upon.
Carissa Zukowski is a Freshman English major from Baltimore, Maryland.
