Hooking Up : Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus by Kathleen A. Bogle Page A

important differences: one is a large state-sponsored university with a diverse population; the other is a smaller faith-based institution where the student body is largely Catholic. Fraternities and sororities exist on both campuses. However, Greek life was more central to the experience of students at State University. Despite the differences, hooking up is very much a part of the social landscape on both campuses. Any differences in norms for the hookup scene seemed to be related more to the size of the institution than its religious affiliation or lack thereof. In my interviews with students at Faith University, I asked whether they thought the religious affiliation of the school had any affect on hooking up on campus. Most students insisted it was completely irrelevant. Lynn, a sophomore, had the following to say:
    KB : Do you think Faith University is different in any way because of being a Catholic school?
    Lynn : No.

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    KB : So, Faith would be the same as state schools or wherever?
    Lynn : With like hooking up, yeah . . . the Catholic school part doesn’t really have [anything] to do with hooking up. Hooking up I think is across the board, it would happen at any college.
    Trent, a senior, and I had a similar exchange: KB : Do you think male-female interaction would be the same no matter what school you went to?
    Trent : Yeah.
    KB : So, if you went to [a larger state school] or anywhere it would be the same?
    Trent : Yeah, the same thing just a different size.
    KB : Do you think there’s anything different about this school because it’s a Catholic school? Does that matter?
    Trent : Not really.
    KB : So, Catholic or public or state or whatever, the same thing?
    Trent : Yeah.
    When I asked students on both campuses if they thought the way men and women interact would be the same at other colleges or if there was something unique about their campus, most indicated that they expected it would be the same. Many students mentioned that they had visited other schools to spend time with friends and found hooking up to be common among students there, too. The only difference mentioned was that some large colleges were deemed “party schools.” These schools have a reputation for heavy alcohol consumption and a party atmosphere, with many alcohol-centered social events happening each week. Colleges with this reputation tend to have not only a large student population, but also an active Greek life. Some students suggested that this atmosphere might make the hookup scene more anonymous. In other words, students can hook up and never cross paths again. At smaller institutions this outcome is not a possibility. Max, a sophomore at State University, mentions the anonymity of hooking up at a large school, “You can totally hook up with a girl here and never see her again.”
    Similarly, Larry, a senior at Faith University, believed there are more anonymous “one and done” type of hookups at the larger state schools, T H E H O O K U P S C E N E
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    based on his experiences visiting friends at such institutions. “I think
    [large state schools] would be more random hookups. There would not be as much opportunity at [large state schools] for a long-term relationship. There are just so many people and you don’t get to know someone as close as [here at Faith University].”
    Although hooking up was commonplace among the student body at both Faith and State universities, there were certain circumstances that affected one’s degree of involvement in the hookup scene, including clique and alcohol use. A student’s circle of friends, or clique, was a good predictor of how entrenched he or she was in hooking up. The students I talked with who belonged to popular groups on campus, such as fraternities/sororities and athletic teams, were more likely to be heavily involved in hooking up. Fraternity men in particular believed that finding hookup partners was very easy.16 They suggested a typical