Hooking Up Graduates From College

Casual sex replaces dating

By Sarah Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 8, 2009 1:53 PM CDT

(Newser) – Sex without commitment, also known as hooking up, has been common for years on college campuses. And now, as those college kids graduate and get jobs, hooking up is replacing dating in the real world, too, NPR reports. "Going out on a date is a sort of ironic, obsolete type of thing," says a Boston 25-year-old.

Part of the reason: People are marrying later and don't feel the need to find a serious relationship right away. "My first few years out of college was about trying to get on my feet and having a good time," the Boston woman said. Social networking sites also make casual encounters easier. But some worry that casual sex doesn't teach intimacy or prepare young people to settle down with one person.

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Mary Fitzgerald shows a bridal gown to her parents at Filene's Basement in New York on Feb. 27, 2009. The average age for first marriages in the US is now 27 for men and 25 for women. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, file)

Hooking up is no longer confined just to the college set. (©venetia joubert sarah oosterveld)

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For many of us, the requisite vulnerability and exposure that comes from being really intimate with someone in a committed sense is kind of threatening. - May Wilkerson, 25

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Hooking Up Graduates From College