{"id":17869,"date":"2018-12-10T01:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T09:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/datemixstaging.wpengine.com\/?p=17869"},"modified":"2021-05-31T10:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T17:05:48","slug":"definition-of-a-hookup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/dating-advice\/definition-of-a-hookup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Definition of a Hookup: What Does Hooking Up Really Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A month ago I was talking to a friend of mine who revealed to me she had recently \u201chooked up\u201d with a guy. I was quick to assume sex but then stopped myself. My friend wasn\u2019t someone who normally had one-night stands, so maybe she meant making out? Maybe with some touching? Was it just sleeping side-by-side with a little bit of canoodling? Was it hugging and then sharing a plate of fajitas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of trying to figure out what exactly my friend meant got me wondering if I even knew what hooking up meant anymore. When I was in high school, hooking up meant kissing. When I was in college, it meant sex. But now? I wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out I\u2019m not alone. Google \u201cwhat does hooking up mean\u201d and you\u2019ll find a slew of articles trying to decipher just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One study<\/a> from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that, while 94 percent of the college students involved in the survey were familiar with the term \u201chooking up,\u201d there was no consensus about what it meant. Over 50 percent described it as involving sex, nine percent said it didn\u2019t include sex, while one-third said it was \u201cambiguous.\u201d No kidding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another study<\/a> noted that \u201csome students… feel that \u2018hooking up\u2019 generally refers to \u2018having sex\u2019; however, many others indicated that when they say \u2018hooking up\u2019 they are referring to something less than intercourse. To some it means \u2018just kissing\u2019 or \u2018making out\u2019…’fooling around\u2019 beyond kissing, which includes sexual touching on or underneath clothing. Still others suggested that hooking up means \u2018everything but\u2019 intercourse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make things even more confusing, an informal poll conducted this year in the Cavalier Daily asked, \u201cWhat does the phrase \u2018hook up\u2019 mean?\u201d Half of the 118 respondents said it meant \u201cmaking out\u201d while 43% said it meant \u201chand stuff.\u201d Sixty-six percent agreed it involved sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, basically, hooking up means some sort of physical intimacy but just what it entails is entirely up to the two individuals involved. What most people can probably agree upon is that hooking up usually occurs between two people who aren\u2019t in a committed relationship. Let\u2019s face it: no one says, \u201cI hooked up with my boyfriend last night.\u201d Which means that no matter what goes on during a hook up, it’s almost always based on the lack of a commitment and emotional investment. Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because here\u2019s the rub. As one 2013 study<\/a> points out, because \u201cthe precise elements that define a hookup differ, in some cases quite radically, depending on the eye of the beholder\u2026it is possible that for college students this can lead to mismatched expectations regarding sexual activity and commitment which in turn could lead to negative outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend\u2019s latest hook-up could attest to this conundrum. She had feelings for this guy, they hooked up, and she was left wondering, \u201cNow what?\u201d Were they a couple? Were they exploring a relationship? Or was it really just a one-night stand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we might not be able to pinpoint what hooking up means, we can agree that its ambiguity is a direct correlation between the two people involved. While a clear definition of a hook up might not exist, it\u2019s safe to say that it entails sexual activity between two people who are not in a committed relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hooking up  can be fun and exciting. If you want to make out or sleep with that new connection, then, by all means, do what feels right for you. But it\u2019s important to remember that even though the definition of hooking up is unique to your situation, the consensus of what it is not is pretty clear: a relationship. Which means no matter how much you might like this person, hooking up with them doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re headed for coupledom or ever will be. It\u2019s food for thought for those who might wonder if having sex with their crush actually means anything more because chances are, it might not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why hugging with a side of fajitas sounds like the safest bet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A clear definition of a hook up might not exist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":17881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[884],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Definition of a Hookup: What Does Hooking Up Really Mean?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While a clear definition of a hook up might not exist, it\u2019s safe to say that it entails sexual activity between two people who are not in a committed relationship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/dating-advice\/definition-of-a-hookup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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