Armstrong, England, and Fogarty (2012, p. 454) found that women were more likely to enjoy sex and experience orgasms in relationships than in hook-ups. Based on the qualitative data obtained from interviews with both men and women, the researchers found that all participants reported that “men are typically not concerned with women’s pleasure in hookups, but both reported that men are very attentive to women’s pleasure in relationships” (Armstrong et al., 2012, p. 458). The results were attributed to gender inequality because the double standard suggests that both men and women deserve reciprocal sexual satisfaction in relationships, but the entitlement of women to receive pleasure from casual sex encounters keeps women from enjoying those encounters and men from being concerned with women’s desires during those encounters. Women’s rights were proposed to ensure that women have an equal position in society like men, but the double standard observed in sexual encounters suggests that gender inequality is still associated with sexuality. However, the current evidence suggests that hook-ups do not affect women’s rights because the relationship goes the other way around, and gender inequality is what leads to the negative effects of sex encounters among women.
One common opinion is that women should avoid non-romantic relationships and strive to achieve a committed relationship with men, but Hamilton and Armstrong (2009) suggest that there is a possibility of women being “losers in both hook-ups and relationships” (p. 591). The findings of their study suggested that public gender beliefs are the cause of gender inequalities when it comes to sexual encounters, and women tend to cycle “back and forth between hookups and relationships, in part because they found both to be problematic” (Hamilton & Armstrong, 2009, p. 609). Therefore, men tend to be the dominant gender in both non-romantic encounters and romantic relationships, and the current public beliefs about gender differences in heterosexual relationships justify the disrespect of women in hook-ups and their disempowerment in relationships (Hamilton & Armstrong, 2009, p. 609).
According to Risman and Seale (2015, pp. 570-571), the results obtained from middle-school children that were interviewed for their study on gender equality suggest that some beliefs about gender roles and characteristics influence the behaviors of both boys and girls. However, young generations appear to be less restricted by gender differences when choosing activities they perform to express their gender through self-presentation. For example, “whereas girls can and do participate in a wide range of activities without being teased, boys consistently avoid activities defined as female to avoid peer harassment” (Risman & Seale, 2015, p. 570). Therefore, it is possible to notice that gender differences are decreasing with newer generations, but at the moment, so gender inequality might disappear from intimate relationships in the future, but current beliefs about gender differences in terms of sexual preferences and behaviors still determine how women who engage in hook-ups will be perceived.
The idea that hook-ups are good or bad for women’s rights assumes that hook-ups have a causal effect on women’s rights, but research suggests that the stigma associated with hook-ups is caused by public beliefs about gender differences. Specifically, both men and women believe that women are not supposed to enjoy hook-ups and should look for romantic relationships instead. However, women are more likely to suffer in both non-romantic and romantic relationships compared to men, so gender inequality is persistent in all forms of relationships that involve intimacy. Therefore, even if a woman avoids a hook-up in order to avoid the social stigma associated with that type of behavior, there is no guarantee that she will be an equal partner in a romantic relationship. Recent trends suggest that gender inequality is slowly decreasing, and even though boys may still experience harassment for feminine activities, engaging in masculine activities is often acceptable for girls. Different attitudes about the self-presentation of gender identity among younger generations may lead to the equality of both genders when it comes to both romantic and non-romantic encounters.
References
Armstrong, E. A., England, P., & Fogarty, A. C. (2012). Accounting for women’s orgasm and sexual enjoyment in college hookups and relationships. American Sociological Review, 77(3), 435-462.
Hamilton, L., & Armstrong, E. A. (2009). Gendered sexuality in young adulthood double binds and flawed options. Gender & Society, 23(5), 589-616.
Risman, B. J., & Seale, E. (2015). Betwixt and be tween: Gender contradictions among middle schoolers. In: B. J. Risman & V. Rutter (Eds.), Families as they really are (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
