the Colby community because having multiple sexual partners, even if those partners did not consent to sex, is seen as While many people will claim that they do not believe these “studly.” myths, I believe that many of us subconsciously adhere to this thinking without even knowing it, which is why prejudices like sexism are so pervasive in the world and at Colby. Moreover, a male dominated sex culture is dangerous because it disempowers women. When (heterosexual) women are forced to choose between forgoing all heterosexual relationships with men or settling for what, according to my research, is most often a demeaning hookup, they always lose. In the end, there is very little room for heterosexual women to feel sexually satisfied and respected in their relationships with men within the hookup culture because the system makes it very hard for such an option to exist. For me and for many other women, this is incredibly disempowering. One woman I talked to expressed this disempowerment very eloquently, saying, feel like I have had a lot of identity crisis issues at Colby…I have been having so much “I anxiety about my gender. I was so involved in the hookup culture all of sophomore year. I kind of thought it was fun and it had the potential to be fun, so I was really into it and I liked being able to tell the story the next day, but it is weird and awkward. I felt gross after…then I went abroad and had a boyfriend there and sex with him was so bad. I felt undervalued because it was all about him. I removed myself from the hookup culture because it made me feel bad about myself but now I feel bad about myself for not partaking in hook up culture (sigh). I think hookup culture is entirely unfulfilling and very drunken…it’s a bunch of people trying to find intimacy the wrong way, trying to find validation.”
the Colby community because having multiple sexual partners, even if those partners did not consent to sex, is seen as “studly.” While many people will claim that they do not believe these myths, I believe that many of us subconsciously adhere to this thinking without even knowing it, which is why prejudices like sexism are so pervasive in the world and at Colby. Moreover, a male dominated sex culture is dangerous because it disempowers women. When (heterosexual) women are forced to choose between forgoing all heterosexual relationships with men or settling for what, according to my research, is most often a demeaning hookup, they always lose. In the end, there is very little room for heterosexual women to feel sexually satisfied and respected in their relationships with men within the hookup culture because the system makes it very hard for such an option to exist. For me and for many other women, this is incredibly disempowering. One woman I talked to expressed this disempowerment very eloquently, saying, “I feel like I have had a lot of identity crisis issues at Colby…I have been having so much anxiety about my gender. I was so involved in the hookup culture all of sophomore year. I kind of thought it was fun and it had the potential to be fun, so I was really into it and I liked being able to tell the story the next day, but it is weird and awkward. I felt gross after…then I went abroad and had a boyfriend there and sex with him was so bad. I felt undervalued because it was all about him. I removed myself from the hookup culture because it made me feel bad about myself but now I feel bad about myself for not partaking in hook up culture (sigh). I think hookup culture is entirely unfulfilling and very drunken…it’s a bunch of people trying to find intimacy the wrong way, trying to find validation.”
Thesis-Third-Draft1.docx