1.29.2008

I was a "player" in college

The smackdown in the comments is hilarious. So there's yet another screed about the amazing contemporary phenomenon of The Hookup™, and an accompanying interview of the author which ends with this:
Q: Was anyone willing to talk openly about the “walk of shame"?

A: Several of the students I interviewed mentioned the “walk of shame,” which refers to a college student, usually female, walking home the next morning after a hookup encounter in the same outfit he/she was wearing the evening prior. Given that students dress differently for “going out” at night than during the daytime, it is obvious to onlookers when a student is doing the walk of shame. One of many interesting things about this phrase is that students use the word “shame” at all. If students accept hooking up and believe that “everybody’s doing it,” then why do they use the term shame when referencing a hookup encounter? I think that phrase actually underscores an important issue: Many students are struggling with the hookup system. For those students who are having trouble making sense of it all, I hope my book will help shed some light on both what is happening and why it is happening.
College kids having sex. Mah, Mah! Wait..."walk of shame"?
Err.. the term walk of shame is used ironically. Its often a badge of honor, or at least taken in humor. Its not like people are getting rotten fruit thrown at them. The different ways in which men and women are viewed as slutty is as old as civilization. If anything the shame attached to women is substantially less than in previous generations, for better or for worse. This idea that ‘hooking up’ is anything new under the sun may sell books and make for great MTV moments, but its bunk. The only difference here is the media coverage- mainly the need of boomers to get a vicarious thrill from sticking their nose back into the campus like, ideally for a little titilation. And like all good legends, its definately overblown and seems a lot more exciting from the outside.
Hmmmh. Boomers getting a vicarious thrill, eh? Seriously, though, we didn't use the word "hookup" 15 years ago, but things aren't so different now from the way they were back then. Presumably some customs might have changed slightly--the wheres and hows--but broadly speaking, the same parameters exist today as have existed for some time now: young men and women live, eat and study in a fairly secluded place for a limited amount of time. They have little or no income of their own and usually an uncertain future. It seems only logical that under those circumstances there will from time to time be instances where said young people get together to have sex that doesn't lead to a long-term commitment.