These days, for college kids, the word ‘dating’ only exists if he is your boyfriend. If you’re dating someone then he is completely off limits to anyone else. In the past, dating more than one person was acceptable. Dating meant that you could go out with multiple men on something called a date. Said men would buy you dinner, complement you on your outfit choice and really get to you know you (gasp). That kind of dating doesn’t exist on college campuses anymore, and it’s a strange and foreign concept to young adults. It has been replaced with something far more sinister and dark: the hook-up culture. This hook-up culture has started to kill the confidence of young college scholars everywhere.
Hook-up culture means that you’ll meet some sort of frat guy drunkenly on a Friday night. You won’t know anything about him, but after 30 minutes of sweaty dancing in the frat basement he’ll ask you to come back home with him, and you’ll oblige because he is so hot. He may or may not ask for your number, and come the next morning you may or may not hear from him. If you do hear from him, it may be around midnight that next day, and he may be asking for round two. He has no interest in actually getting to know you, but once again you’ll oblige because what else do you have to do that night?
So it becomes a vicious cycle, and while some girls can walk away unscathed, others come away with broken hearts and a crushed self-image. Many men in college hook up with multiple girls during the weekend, and many girls look at this and truly believe it’s because they are not good enough. News flash: that is not true.
Not all guys who participate in this hook-up culture are necessarily jerks. Once in a while it’s possible to find a nice, respectful guy who is fun to be around. However, don’t sit by your phone all the next day pining for a text that may never come. You can’t change a guy, no matter how hard you try.
The hook-up culture has robbed girls of the respect and pampering they deserve, and if a guy treats you like dirt run the other way because no one deserves that. You are a beautiful girl with so much to offer, so don’t get caught up in the vicious cycle of the hook-up culture. If he doesn’t call then it wasn’t meant to be. If he keeps calling while sending mixed signals, then he’s not worth your time. Every girl deserves someone who treats her right, and one day you will find him. So don’t waste your time on the losers, and don’t let guys define your happiness.
Edited and photo by Kim
