La Salle professor on hooking up

By Olivia Biagi
Collegian Editor
April 9, 2008

Have a few drinks while partying. Dance with a cute guy or girl. Bring said guy or girl back to your room for quick hook-up. This is just a typical weekend on college campuses across the country, according to the new book by La Salle assistant professor of sociology Dr. Kathleen Bogle, Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus.

The February 2008 release has garnered much national attention, as it is the first to study the trend on college campuses. In fact, Bogle has had reviews and interviews in USA Today, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. Not too bad for the Philadelphia-area native’s first book, in which Bogle places a high emphasis on the college campus environment.

“Environment really affects how people mate and date,” Bogle said.

Bogle, who received her doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Delaware in 2004, had previously studied violence against women. In her research, she found that there were various and numerous studies on dating. However, Bogle learned that there was not much out there on hooking up. After a discussion with her mentor at the University of Delaware, Bogle decided to pursue the topic further in order to fill the gap.

“I did qualitative interviews with 76 people, 51 college students and 25 alumn from two universities,” Bogle said. “One was a Catholic university the other was a larger state school.”

Bogle learned that the college campus setting makes it much easier for young adults to hook up, as opposed to the traditional first date. In fact, Bogle found that hooking up is a complete reversal of traditional dating. In the past, she said, dating was the beginning of a relationship before anything physical occurred. Now, something physical happens, but “not necessarily intercourse,” said Bogle, first. In some cases this may develop into a relationship, but not all.

Another very important aspect of the book discusses the distorted perceptions young adults have about their peers. Perhaps because the definitions of hooking up are so broad there is some confusion among college students about what exactly it is their peers are doing.

“[They] always overestimated what their peers were doing,” said Bogle. “I asked one girl, ‘If someone at this university was single for an entire semester, how many different people do you think she would hook up with?’ She answered seven. I asked her how many people she [would] hook up with she said, ‘Um, two.’”

Also surprising for Bogle was how many young women thought there were so few virgins on college campuses. According to her, 39 percent of college women in the United States are virgins.

“When I would interview a virgin, she would think ‘Oh, I’m the only one,’” said Bogle. “Perceptions are just false in terms of the quantitave date.”

Bogle also heard stories showing the darker side of the current trend.

“It was a male alum of ‘State University,’” said Bogle. “He recounted a hook-up when the girl was really, really drunk and I think it raises the question of sexual assault.”

Hooking Up also studies how the dating trend is portrayed in the media and a discussion on men, women and the double standard between them.

“Maybe the old double standard has evolved,” said Bogle, “but women can still get a bad reputation.”

Hooking Up is currently available from Amazon and Borders. For more information visit her official Web site, KathleenBogle.com.

biagio1@lasalle.edu