Shelby Georgia State University Hooking-up with friends and acquaintances has quickly become a popular method for young people to have sexual experiences without emotional intimacy. A vague and elusive term, hooking-up can comprise a variety of sexual behaviors, from kissing to fondling to intercourse Owen and Fincham No longer an "alternative" sexual script, Heldman and Wade estimate that between two-thirds to three-quarters of college students hook-up at least once.
The rise of the hook-up and decline of traditional dating has been attributed to changing norms in the life course Downing-Matibag and Geisinger Marriage is occurring later, and the period in which young people have to work on personal development is expanding Heldman and Wade Without the perceived emotional toll required of romantic relationships, or pressure to be tied to one person, hooking-up has become a viable option for engaging in sexual behavior without the "complications" Bradshaw, Kahn, and Saville The rapid production of two all-star cast films echoes the salience of hooking-up.
This is no longer a fringe sexual sub-culture, but a mainstream sexual script recognized commercially for its social relevance. However, these films do not simply imitate social interaction.
They frame and reify a phenomenon that has specific gender and class implications. Media representations are powerful symbols that can shape social discourse Altheide , and impact norms of acceptable sexual behavior Stinson Since , there has been a growing body of hook-up literature.
However, there remains limited understanding of how hook-up rhetoric is presented in popular media. Grounded in symbolic interactionism, this research offers insight to the narratives of two recent, popular films- No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits. The focus of this project was not to dissect the films' immediate impact on audience members, but to uncover how they define social situations and clarify shared cultural meanings to the audience.
