The Current Collegiate Hookup Culture

"In The Current Collegiate Hookup Culture, scholar Aditi Paul enters the 15-year long conversation that's been going on about hooking up to not only add to it, but to update it. From Tinder to sugaring, Paul's research shows how dating apps are changing the nature of college sex and hookups as well as student attitudes about them, and perhaps most importantly, takes another look at the topic of sexual assault within this same landscape. This is essential reading for scholars and students interested in the contemporary conversation about sex on campus and all that goes with it."

-- Donna Freitas, author of Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention

"This is a timely well-written book addressing the emerging dynamics of sexual hook-up culture and relationships initiated via mediated platforms and the strategic nature of why people engage in hookups. Also highlighting the changing norms of traditional gender-based relationships and addressing the emerging understanding of relational behaviors across the globe, this is a great resource for advanced students and scholars interested in romantic relationships."

-- Jennifer A. Samp, University of Georgia

"In this book, Aditi Paul provides us with a thoughtful and carefully argued account of hookup cultures in US college campuses. This book takes us across online dating apps alongside conventional meetings contexts to establish how these different sexual sites offer different possibilities for the expression of gender and sexuality. The book offers a welcome emphasis on sugar dating and casual sex while expanding and ‘challenging the generalisability’ of US hookup cultures in relation to the experience of international students. This compelling book demonstrates the changing nature of hookup cultures in contemporary times, the challenges to gender norms while keeping a firm lens on the enduring patterns of inequalities within relationship dynamics."

-- Deevia Bhana, University of Kwazulu-Natal

"Dr. Paul provides a much-needed modernization of our understanding of hookup culture on campuses. This book explores both the social context of hooking up, motivations for doing so, and the psychological impact of hooking up on young adults. In particular, Dr. Paul’s research on the role of dating apps for racial minority and sexual minority students illustrates how these technologies connect people who might otherwise feel isolated, providing benefits as well as risks."

-- Richard A. Sprott, California State University, East Bay

“Dr. Paul has given us a careful and fascinating study of the collegiate hookup culture with great insights into the historical roots of casual sexual encounters.”

-- Maryann Karinch, author of Mature Sexual Intimacy

"The Current Collegiate Hookup Culture provides invaluable insights into young people and hooking-up practices across US Campuses. Covering a range of themes, including online dating, mobile dating, sugar daddies, and international students experience of dating, this book is an excellent resource that provides a thoroughly comprehensive review of the literature in the field. Furthermore, this book provides rare empirical evidence of what actually happens when ‘hooking up.’ As a result, a number of the findings challenge conventional understandings, thus enabling new ways to think about and understand hooking up and dating. This book, with its clearly written chapters and easy to understand summaries, is a must-read for students, researchers, academics, policymakers and anyone interested in an up-to-date understanding of hook-up culture and dating more generally!"

-- Chris Haywood, Newcastle University

"Aditi Pauls' study of "hookup culture" transcends mainstream academic critiques of dating behaviors and practices among college students. Grounded in a nationally representative sample of college students, this study is one of the most thoughtful, if not provocative, studies of "hookup culture." Paul illuminates uncharted areas of analysis that problematizes past assumptions and research findings on hookup culture. Moreover, this excellent text avoids moralistic pitfalls that characterize similar texts while also pointing out potential problems derived from this practice. A must read for anyone teaching in higher education."

-- Christopher Connor, University of Missouri

"Aditi Paul has written an important book on hook-up culture that confirms, challenges, and expands our current understanding of the sexual attitudes and practices of college students. This book is notable for its consistent focus on LGBTQ students and an important focus on international students that will create paths for new research."

-- Jason Pierceson, University of Illinois Springfield

"Dr. Paul’s book offers an impressively engaging, accessible, and broad review of extant and original research findings on a wide array of questions about hookup relationships. Researchers, teachers, and health providers who work with US college student populations and have interest in understanding the topography of short-term sexual relationships among young adults will find this book to be an essential addition to their collection."

-- Stephen M. Yoshimura, University of Illinois

"Aditi Paul's study of 'hookup culture' transcends mainstream academic critiques of dating behaviors and practices among college students. Grounded in a nationally representative sample of college students, this study is one of the most thoughtful, if not provocative, studies of 'hookup culture.' Paul illuminates uncharted areas of analysis that problematizes past assumptions and research findings on hookup culture. Moreover, this excellent text avoids moralistic pitfalls that characterize similar texts while also pointing out potential problems derived from this practice. A must read for anyone teaching in higher education."

-- Christopher Conner, University of Missouri, Columbia

"Sexual desire, attraction, and activity are as ancient as humanity itself. However, the ways in which people meet and sexually engage with desirable partners are continually changing. In this captivating study by Aditi Paul, the casual sex interaction or 'hookup' is explored in depth. Focusing on a population of university students, Dr. Paul investigates such things as the demographic, psychology, and the positive and negative outcomes of hookups, and even what happens during a hookup. Fascinating and unexpected results await the reader, results that call long-held views of gender and sexuality into question. Dr. Paul’s valuable study is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the nature of casual sex."

-- James Giles, Professor and Author, Sexual Attraction: The Psychology of Allure

"Aditi Paul’s excellent book elegantly nestles her timely research into the larger narrative of previous empirical inquiry into hookup culture on college campuses in the United States. An engaging and important read for anyone in higher education, the book provides a broad examination of hookups that considers safety, health consequences, social/psychological risks and benefits, and the ways in which hookup culture has fundamentally changed gender dynamics. Additionally, Dr. Paul’s book gives important consideration to domains not typically examined, including sugaring, the hookup experiences of international and LGBTQIA+ students, and perspectives on equity and race. Although written from an academic perspective, the book is highly engaging, full of surprising insights, and includes direct quotes from students, making it a compelling read for anyone who wants to better understand the sexual culture thriving on college campuses."

-- Wilson Kenney, Clinical Psychologist, Author of Problematic Sexual Behavior in Schools

"Paul provides a detailed, thorough, and valuable account of contemporary college hookup culture that challenges several assumptions about sexual cultures and app usage. This book will be of interest to anyone who wants to better understand hookup culture, and will be an asset to gender, sexuality, and communication researchers."

-- Chrystie Myketiak, The University of Brighton

“This book delivers an exciting contribution to the growing field at the intersection of intimacy and new media studies. In addition to challenging the stereotype of collegiate hookup culture, the study offers a fine-grained analysis of the role of dating apps in initiating casual sexual encounters without commitment. Paul shows that the issues of the contemporary hookup culture in American college campuses cannot be adequately understood without examining the complex intersections of ethnic and gender diversity, sexual agency, and online technology.”

-- Wilasinee Pananakhonsab, author of Love and Intimacy in Online Cross-Cultural Relations