hook for essay about culture

73 Essay Hook Examples

An essay hook is the first one or two sentences of your essay that are used to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into your discussion.

It is called a hook because it “grabs” the reader and doesn’t let them go! It should have something in there that makes the reader feel curious and intrigued, compelling them to continue reading.

Techniques for Good Essay Hooks

Here are a few techniques that you can use to write a good essay hook:

• Use a Quotation : Sometimes, a relevant quotation from a well-known author or expert can help establish the context or theme of your essay. Next time you’re conducting research for an essay, keep an eye out for a really compelling quote that you could use as your hook for that essay.
• Start with a Statement that is Surprising or Unusual: A surprising or unusually statement will draw a reader in, making them want to know more about that topic. It’s good if the statement contradicts common knowledge or reveals an insight about your topic that isn’t immediately obvious. These can be particularly good for argumentative essays where you’re putting forward a controversial or compelling argument as your thesis statement .
• Tell a Brief Anecdote : A short, interesting story related to your topic can personaize the story, making it more than just a dry essay, and turning it into a compelling narrative that’s worth reading.
• Use Statistics or Facts: Interesting, surprising, or shocking facts or statistics work similarly to surprising statements: they make us want to know more about a topic. Statistics and facts in your introductions are particularly useful for analytical, expository , and argumentative essays.
• Start with a Question: Questions that make the reader think deeply about an issue, or pose a question that the reader themselves has considered, can be really effecitve. But remember, questions tend to be better for informal and personal essays, and are generally not allowed in formal argumentative essays. If you’re not sure if you’re allowed to use questions in your essays, check with your teacher first.

Below, I’ll present some examples of hooks that you could use as inspiration when writing your own essay hook.

Essay Hook Examples

These examples might help stimulate your thinking. However, keep in mind that your essay hook needs to be unique to your essay, so use these as inspiration but write your own essay hook that’s perfect for your own essay.

1. For an Essay About Yourself

An essay about yourself can be personal, use “I” statements, and include memories or thoughts that are deeply personal to you.

• Question: “Have you ever met someone who could turn even the most mundane events into a thrilling adventure? Let me introduce myself.”
• Anecdote: “The smell of freshly baked cookies always takes me back to the day when I accidentally started a baking business at the age of nine.”
• Intriguing Statement: “I’ve always believed that you haven’t truly lived until you’ve read a book upside down, danced in the rain, or taught a parrot to say ‘I love pizza.'”
• Quotation: “As Mark Twain once said, ‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started.’ That’s a philosophy I’ve embraced in every aspect of my life.”
• Humorous Statement: “I’m a self-proclaimed ‘professional chocolate tester’ – a title that’s not only delicious but also requires extreme dedication.”
• Start with your Mission Statement : “My life motto is simple but powerful: be the person who decided to go for it.
• Fact or Statistic: “According to a study, people who speak more than one language tend to be better at multitasking . As a polyglot, I certainly live up to that statistic.”
• Comparison or Metaphor: “If my life were a book, it would be a blend of an adventurous novel, a suspense thriller, and a pinch of romantic comedy.”
• Personal Revelation: “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had an uncanny ability to communicate with animals. It’s an unusual skill, but one that has shaped my life in many ways.”
• Narrative: “The day everything changed for me was an ordinary Tuesday. Little did I know, a single conversation would lead me to discover my true passion.”

2. For a Reflective Essay

A reflective essay often explores personal experiences, feelings, and thoughts. So, your hooks for reflective essays can usually be more personal, intriguing, and engaging than other types of essays. Here are some examples for inspiration:

• Question: “Have you ever felt as though a single moment could change your entire life? This essay is going to explore that moment for me.”
• Anecdote: “I was standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, looking at the vast emptiness, and for the first time, I truly understood the word ‘perspective’.”
• Bold Statement: “There is a part of me that is still trapped in that room, on that rainy afternoon, holding the letter that would change everything.”
• Personal Revelation: “The first time I truly felt a sense of belonging wasn’t in a crowded room full of friends, but in the quiet solitude of a forest.”
• Intriguing Statement: “In my life, silence has been a teacher more profound than any words could ever be.”
• Quotation: “Einstein once said, ‘The only source of knowledge is experience.’ Now, looking back, I realize how profound that statement truly is.”
• Comparison or Metaphor: “If my life is a tapestry, then that summer was the vibrant thread that changed the entire pattern.”
• Narrative: “As the train pulled out of the station, I realized I wasn’t just leaving my hometown, I was leaving my old self behind.”
• Philosophical Statement: “In the theater of life, we are both the actor and the audience, playing our part and watching ourselves simultaneously.”
• Emotive Statement: “There is a sort of sweet sorrow in remembering, a joy tinged with a hint of sadness, like the last notes of a beautiful song.”

For an Argumentative Essay

Essay hooks for argumentative essays are often the hardest. This type of essay tends to require the most formal type of academic writing, meaning your hook shouldn’t use first person, and should be more based on fact and objectivity, often at the expense of creativity. Here are some examples.

• Quotation: “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.’ If Jefferson were alive today, he would likely feel that this meed for a well-informed citizenry is falling well short of where he would aspire.”
• Provocative Statement: “Despite what romantic films may portray, love at first sight is merely a myth perpetuated by society. This essay will prosecute the argument that love at first sight is a myth.”
• Statistical Fact: “According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading psychological disability worldwide. Yet, mental health is still stigmatized and often overlooked. This essay will argue that depression should be seen as a health issue, and stigmatization of depression causes serious harm to society.”
• Comparison: “Much like an unchecked infection, climate change, if left ignored, can spread far beyond what it is today, causing long-term economic and social problems that may even threaten the longevity of humanity itself.”
• Contradiction : “While we live in an era of unprecedented technological advancements, millions around the world are still denied basic internet access.”
• Bold Declaration: “Animal testing is not only ethically unacceptable, but it also undermines the progress of medical research.”
• Challenging Belief: “Despite popular belief, the automation of jobs is not a threat but an opportunity for society to evolve.”
• Quotation: “George Orwell wrote in ‘1984’, ‘Big Brother is Watching You.’ In our modern society, with the advancement of technology, this is becoming more of a reality than fiction.”
• Intriguing Statement: “Despite countless diet fads and fitness trends, obesity rates continue to rise. This argumentative essay will argue that this is because medical practitioners’ approaches to health and weight loss are fundamentally flawed.”
• Statistical Fact: “Research reveals that over 90% of the world’s plastic waste is not recycled. This alarming figure calls for a drastic change in social attitudes towards consumption and waste management.”
• Challenging Assumption: “Society often assumes that progress and growth are intrinsically good, but this is not always the case in the realm of economic development.”
• Contradiction: “Western society upholds the value of freedom, yet every day, members of society cede personal liberties in the name of convenience and security.”
• Analogy: “Like an overplayed song, when a news story is repeated too often, it loses its impact. In the era of digital media, society is becoming desensitized to critical issues.”
• Relevant Anecdote: “In a village in India, the arrival of a single computer transformed the lives of the residents. This small anecdote underscores the importance of digital inclusion in today’s world.”
• Call to Rethink: “In a world where success is often equated with financial wealth, it is time for society to reconsidered what truly constitutes a successful life.”

For a Compare and Contrast Essay

A compare and contrast essay examines two issues, looking at both the similarities and differences between them. A good hook for a compare and contrast essay will immediately signal to the reader the subjects that are being compared and why they’re being compared. Here are sine ideas for hooks for a compare and contrast essay:

• Quotation: “As Charles Dickens wrote in his novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. This could equally apply to the contrasting dynamics of urban and rural living.”
• Provocative Statement: “Despite popular belief, cats and dogs have more in common than society tends to think.”
• Comparison: “Comparing being an only child to growing up with siblings is like contrasting a solo performance with an orchestral symphony.”
• Contradiction: “While many view classic literature and contemporary fiction as worlds apart, they are more akin to two sides of the same coin.”
• Bold Declaration: “Android and iPhone may compete in the same market, but their philosophies could not be more different.”
• Statistical Fact: “Statistics show that children who grow up reading books tend to perform better academically than those who do not. But, the jury is out on how reading traditional books compares to reading e-books on screens.”
• Quotation: “As Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, ‘Sooner or later, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.’ This statement can be used to frame a comparison between short-term and long-term thinking.”
• Provocative Statement: “Democracy and dictatorship are often seen as polar opposites, but are they are not as different as they seem.”
• Comparison: “Climate change and plastic pollution are two major environmental issues, yet they demand different approaches and solutions.”
• Contradiction: “While traditional classrooms and online learning are seen as separate modes of education, they can often blend into a cohesive learning experience.”
• Bold Declaration: “Though both based on merit, the structures of capitalism and socialism lead to vastly different societal outcomes.”
• Imagery: “The painting styles of Van Gogh and Monet can be contrasted as a stormy sea versus a tranquil pond.”
• Historical Reference: “The philosophies of the Cold War-era – capitalism and communism – provide a lens to contrast economic systems.”
• Literary Comparison: “The dystopian societies portrayed in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ serve as contrasting visions of the future.”
• Philosophical Question: “Individualism and collectivism shape societies in distinct ways, but neither one can truly exist without the other.”

See Here for my Guide on Writing a Compare and Contrast Essay

For a Psychology Essay

Writing an engaging hook for a psychology essay involves sparking the reader’s interest in the human mind, behavior, or the specific psychology topic you’re discussing. Here are some stimulating hooks for a psychology essay:

• Rhetorical Question: “How much control do we truly have over our own actions?”
• Quotation: “Sigmund Freud once said, ‘Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.’ This essay will explore whether this is universally true.”
• Provocative Statement: “Contrary to popular belief, ‘venting out’ anger might actually be fueling the fire of fury.”
• Comparison: “Just as an iceberg reveals only a fraction of its bulk above water, conscious minds may only be a small piece of who humans truly are.”
• Contradiction: “While it may seem counterintuitive, studies show that individuals who are more intelligent are also more likely to suffer from mental health issues.”
• Bold Declaration: “Despite advances in technology, understanding the human brain remains one of the final frontiers in science.”
• Statistical Fact: “According to a study by the American Psychological Association, nearly one in five adults in the U.S. lives with a mental illness. Yet, mental health continues to be a topic shrouded in stigma.”

For a Sociology Essay

Writing an engaging hook for a sociology essay involves sparking the reader’s interest in social behaviors, cultural phenomena, or the specific sociology topic you’re discussing. Here are ideas for hooks for a sociology essay:

• Quotation: “As Karl Marx once noted, ‘Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex.’ Sadly, society has not made much progress in gender equality.”
• Provocative Statement: “Social media, initially created to connect people, is ironically leading society into an era of unprecedented isolation.”
• Comparison: “Comparing society to a theater, where each individual plays a role, it is possible to start to see patterns and scripts embedded in daily interactions.”
• Contradiction: “While people often believe that technology is bringing society closer together, evidence suggests that it’s actually driving a wedge between people, creating ‘digital divides’.”
• Bold Declaration: “Human societies are constructed on deeply ingrained systems of inequality, often invisible to those benefiting from them.”
• Statistical Fact: “A recent study found that women still earn only 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. This stark wage gap raises questions about equality in the workforce.”

For a College Application Essay

A college essay is a personal statement where you can showcase who you are beyond your grades and resume. It’s your chance to tell your unique story. Here are ten potential hooks for a college essay:

• Anecdote: “At the age of seven, with a wooden spoon as my baton, I confidently conducted an orchestra of pots and pans in my grandmother’s kitchen.”
• Provocative Statement: “I believe that life is like a game of chess. The king might be the most important piece, but it’s the pawns that can change the entire course of the game.”
• Personal Revelation: “It wasn’t until I was lost in a foreign city, armed with nothing but a map in a language I didn’t understand, that I truly discovered my love for adventure.”
• Intriguing Question: “Have you ever wondered how it feels to be part of two completely different cultures, yet wholly belong to neither?”
• Bold Declaration: “Breaking a bone can be a painful experience. Breaking stereotypes, however, is an entirely different kind of challenge.”
• Unusual Fact: “I can recite the periodic table backwards while juggling three tennis balls. It’s a strange talent, but it’s a perfect metaphor for how I tackle challenges.”
• Quotation: “As Albert Einstein once said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ This quote has defined my approach to learning.”
• Narrative: “It was a cold winter’s day when I first discovered the magic of turning a blank page into a world full of characters, stories, and ideas.”
• Metaphor: “Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, my high school years have been a period of profound metamorphosis.”
• Humorous Statement: “Being the youngest of five siblings, I quickly learned that the best way to be heard was to become the family’s unofficial lawyer.”

Conclusion: The Qualities of a Good Essay Hook

As I wrap up this article, I want to share a few last tips on qualities that a good essay hook should have. Keep these tips in mind when writing your essay hook and using the above essay hook examples:

First, relevance . A good hook should be directly relevant to the topic or theme of your essay. The hook should provide a preview of what’s to come without giving too much away.

Second, Intrigue. A great hook should make the reader want to continue reading. It should create a question in the reader’s mind or present a fascinating idea that they want to know more about.

Third, uniqueness. An effective hook should be original and unique. It should stand out from the many other essays that the reader might be going through.

Fourth, clarity. Even though a hook should be captivating and original, it should also be clear and easy to understand. Avoid complex sentences and jargon that might confuse the reader.

Fifth, genre conventions. Too often, my students try to be so creative in their essay hooks that they forget genre conventions . The more formal an essay, the harder it is to write the hook. My general approach is to focus on statistics and facts, and avoid rhetorical questions , with more formal essay hooks.

Keep in mind that you should run your essay hook by your teacher by showing them your first draft before you submit your essay for grading. This will help you to make sure it follows genre conventions and is well-written.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 17 Behaviorism Examples
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Good Hooks for Essays: 14 Hook Ideas with Examples

Now here’s the clue.

If you want to wow your teacher, polish the introduction. Add something interesting, funny, shocking, or intriguing. Good essay hooks help you build an emotional connection right from the start. Think of an essay hook as bait for your readers.

Our expert team has prepared numerous examples of hooks for essays. You’ll find hook examples for an argumentative essay, personal story, history essay, and other types of papers.

For 100% clarity, we provided examples using each hook tactic. And a short part about how to write a good hook.

• 💎 What Exactly Is a Hook & How to Write a Good One
• 📜 Examples of Classical Essay Hooks
• 💡 Try Some Informative Essay Hooks
• 🦄 Here are the Most Uncommon Essay Hooks

✅ Good Hooks for Essays: Bonus Tips

• 🔗 References for More Information

We highly recommend reading all the methods and examples, so you don’t have any questions.

💎 How to Write a Hook That Will Work for Your Essay?

The hook of your essay usually appears in the very first sentence.

The average length of an essay hook should be 3-7 sentences, depending on the topic.

But first, let’s quickly go through the key questions.

What Is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook (or narrative hook) is a literary technique that writers use to keep their readers engaged. It shows that the content below is worth reading.

The hook can have different lengths. Some writers make it last for several pages. Though, it better be a short paragraph or even a sentence.

Why Do You Need a Good Essay Hook?

Writing the right hook is essential for a few reasons:

• It heats up your readers’ interest. If you did it right, they read the whole piece.
• It shows off your skills . A right hook presents you as an expert in your field.
• It attracts target audience. Only the readers you want will keep reading.
• It keeps the tension on the right level. Use an intriguing question, and a reader dies to find out the answer.
• It makes a good introduction. Starting your essay off a boring fact is simply not a good idea.

How to Write a Good Hook: Ideas and Examples

Next, we will discuss these hook types in more detail. We’ll also provide essay hook examples of less common yet intriguing types: dialogue, story, contradiction, comparison, definition, metaphor, puzzle, announcement, and background information hooks.

💬 The Famous Quote Hook

Use a famous quote as a hook for your essay on history, literature, or even social sciences. It will present you as an established writer. It shows how knowledgeable you are and motivates the readers to engage in the text.

⬇️ Check out examples below ⬇️

Quote Hook Example: Political Science

Hilary Clinton once said that "there cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard." Which creates a discussion about how perfect democracy should look like. If it is a form of government that considers all opinions, why are women silenced so often even nowadays? The truth is that we need to ensure completely equal opportunities for women in politics before we talk about establishing the correct version of democracy. And even the most developed and progressive countries are still struggling to get to that level of equality. It can be achieved by various methods, even though they might only work in certain countries.

Social Sciences

"Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country." These words of wisdom from John Kennedy reflect the perspective we need to teach the younger generations. For some reason, it has become popular to blame the government for any problem arising in society. Is it their fault that we don't think about waste and keep trashing our home? Social responsibility is a real thing. The well-being of our countries starts with the actions of every separate individual. It is not entirely right to wait until the government fixes all the issues for us. The best strategy is to start thinking about what we can do as a community to make our home even a better place.

And excellent sources of quotes for you:

• Brainyquote.com – you can search quotes by topic or by author.
• Goodreads.com is not only a great collection of e-books but also quotes.
• Quoteland.com has plenty of brilliant words for all imaginable situations.
• Quotationspage.com – more than 30,000 quotations for unique essay hooks.

❓Rhetorical Question Essay Hooks

It doesn’t have to be rhetorical – any type of question addressed to your audience will do its job. Such a universal kind of hook can spike the interest of your readers immediately.

Some useful patterns of rhetorical questions:

• What could be more important than…?
• What if there was only one… (chance/day/hour)?
• Who wouldn’t like to… (be a cat/turn visitors into clients)?
• Why bother about… (inequality/imperfect education system)?
• Which is more important: … (making money or realizing potential)?

And more in examples:

Example of a Question Hook on Education

Wouldn't free access to education for everyone be wonderful? The answer would most likely be positive. However, it is not as simple as it seems. As much as the governments try to achieve this goal, there are still many uneducated people. On the bright side, in the era of technology, learning has never been so easy. Of course, some young adults just prefer the shortcut option of taking a student loan. Other ways are much more challenging and require a lot of responsibility and patience. Finding free educational resources online and gaining experience with the help of video tutorials might sound unprofessional. Still, you will be surprised how many experts hired in different fields only received this type of education.

Question Hook Example: Health

Is there anything that can help you lose weight fast? You have probably heard of this magical keto diet that is getting more and more popular worldwide. People claim that it helps them shred those excess pounds in unbelievably short terms. But how healthy is it, and does it suit anyone? The truth is that no diet is universal, and thanks to our differences, some weight-loss methods can even be harmful. Keto diet, for example, leads your body into the state of ketosis. What happens is that you don't receive carbohydrates, and in this state, fat is used as the primary source of energy instead them. However, it carries potential threats.

😂 Anecdotal Essay Hooks

This type would usually be more suitable for literary pieces or personal stories. So, don’t use it for formal topics, such as business and economics. Note that this hook type can be much longer than one sentence. It usually appears as the whole first paragraph itself.

It wouldn't be Kate if she didn't do something weird, so she took a stranger for her best friend this time. There is nothing wrong with it; mistakes like that happen all the time. However, during only five minutes that Kate spent with the stranger, she blabbed too much. Thinking that she sat down at the table that her friend took, Kate was so busy starting on her phone that she didn't notice that it wasn't her friend at all. Sure enough, the naive girl started talking about every little detail of her last night that she spent with her date. It was too much for the ears of an old lady. Kate realized she took the wrong table only when it was too late.

Literature (personal story)

Do not ever underestimate the power of raccoons! Those little furry animals that may look overly cute are too smart and evil. It only takes one box of pizza left outside your house by the delivery person for the disaster to begin. When they smell that delicious pizza, no doors can stop them. They will join the forces to find a hole in your house to squeeze into. Even if it's a window crack four feet above the ground, they know how to get to it. Using their fellow raccoons as the ladder, they get inside the house. They sneak into the kitchen and steal your pizza in front of your eyes and your scared-to-death dog. Not the best first day in the new home, is it? 

📈 Fact or Statistic Hook

Looking deeper into your essay topic, you might find some numbers that are quite amusing or shocking. They can serve as perfect hooks for economics- and business-oriented writings. Also, it is better if they are less known.

Business/social sciences

The UAE workforce is culturally diverse since around 20% of employees (usually called expatriates) come from different countries. Ex-pats tend to take managerial positions, which makes communication within companies quite tricky. The training focused on raising cultural awareness is getting more common, but such educational strategies as games (or gamification) are still rarely applied in the UAE companies. Yet, gamification was a useful tool in other places, making it an attractive UAE team building method. It can significantly help integrate ex-pats and create a more culturally aware environment.

Statistic Hook Example in Economics

The United Arab Emirate's debt has been rising drastically in past years, from about US$17 billion in 2003, which is almost 19 percent of GDP, to US$184 billion in 2009. Only a small proportion of the debt can be tracked directly to the public sector. A report by UBS bank shows that most of the debt comes from the corporate sector. Most of the companies that hold the main section of the debt are financial institutions. The public sector partly owns them. Banks in the UAE have been accumulating their debt amounts in the years mentioned above and could now account for 75 percent of the total foreign debt. The discussion is about the reasons why the UAE debt has been rising at an alarming rate.

Some good sources for statistics

• Finance.yahoo.com is perfect for business papers.
• Usa.gov/statistics is an easy-to-use governmental engine for searching data and stats.
• Unstats.un.org provides a massive collection of statistics published by UN organizations
• Oecd-ilibrary.org is the online library of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), featuring its books, papers, and statistics and is a gateway to the OECD’s analysis and data.

🤯 Shocking Facts are Very Good Hooks for Essays

Very similar to a statistical hook, a fact can serve as a perfect engaging introduction. Search your field for some shocking phenomenon and gently insert it in the beginning.

Don’t forget to include a reliable source reinforcing your words!

Fact Hook Example in Economics

Nowadays, much attention is paid to the problem of shark finning around the world. Millions of sharks are killed annually for their fins, and many of them are dropped back to the ocean finless, where they die because of suffocation. In many countries, the idea of shark finning remains illegal and unethical, but the possibility of earning huge money cannot be ignored (Dell'Apa et al. 151). Regarding available technologies, market economies, trade relations, and cheap employment, it does not take much time to organize special trips for shark hunting. The Trade of shark fins is alive and well developed in countries like the United States and China. However, the number of people who are eager to try shark fin soup has considerably decreased during the last several years because of the popularity of anti-shark fin soup campaigns and laws supported worldwide (Mosbergen). The situation continues to change in China.

Daniel Stacey and Ross Kelly observed that long lines and a new gray market trend for bigger screen phones marked Apple's new iPhones debut. As expected, new phone models drew Apple fans outside retail stores (Stacey and Kelly). Global critics, however, noted that this year's lines were generally longer relative to previous periods mainly because of the developing gray market for Apple products. The new Apple's iPhones have larger screens than the previous models. Also, they boast of improved battery life, faster processors, and an enhanced camera. Tim Cook called them "mother of all upgrades" (Stacey and Kelly).

Sources to look for reliable facts:

• Buzzfeed.com – news, videos, quizzes.
• Cracked.com – a website full of funny stuff, like articles, videos, pictures, etc.
• Webmd.com – an incredible collection of medical facts you will love.
• Livescience.com – discoveries hitting on a broad range of fields.
• National Geographic – needs no introduction.
• Mental Floss answers life’s big questions, a compilation of fascinating facts and incredible stories.

🗣️ Dialogue as a Catchy Hook for Essays

Dialogue is another type of hooks that goes perfectly with pieces of literature and stories. It can even make your short essay stand out if you include it at the beginning. But don’t forget that it only concerns specific topics such as literature and history.

Here it is:

Dialogue Hook Example in Literature

– Why did you do it? – I don't know anymore… That's why I'm leaving for a little bit right now. I need time to think.

With these words, Anna stepped back into the train car and waved goodbye to Trevor. She couldn’t even find the right words to explain why she ran away on her wedding day. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Trevor, but there was this deep, natural, and unexplored feeling that told her it wasn’t time yet. But the only thing Anna realized was that the city made her sick. That day, she took off her wedding dress, bought a ticket on the next flight leaving that afternoon, and hopped on the train taking her to the airport. She couldn’t even remember the country’s name she was going to so blurry everything was from her tears.

Dialogue Hook for History Essay

– If we still had inquisition, we could probably set him on fire. – Some dark magic, indeed, my friend! It would have probably been a real dialogue if we knew who was the first automobile inventor for sure. People were undoubtedly shocked to see the cars moving by themselves without horses. However, since they started appearing around the globe around the same time, it is almost impossible to identify who was the original creator of the idea and the first automobile itself. The credit was usually given to Karl Benz from Germany, who created a gasoline car in 1885-1886. But there are also much earlier records of a gentleman named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, who built the first vehicle powered by steam in France in 1769.

🔮 A Story Looks Like an Extremely Good Essay Hook

A universal essay hook is a story. You can use this trick pretty much anywhere. The main challenge is to be as authentic as possible, try to tell something fresh and engaging. The more specific and narrow the story, the more chances for a successful introduction.

Story Hook Example for an Essay on Business

Dell started fast and strong. The original company was founded in 1984 when the founder was only a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas. Four years after the inception of the company, Michael Dell became the Entrepreneur of the Year. Eight years after he started the company from his dorm room's comfort, Dell was chosen as the Man of the Year by PC Magazine. […] The company was acknowledged as the world's leading direct marketer of personal computers. At the same time, Dell was known as one of the top five PC vendors on the planet (Hunger 9). […] However, the company's journey encountered a major hurdle down the road. Even after recovering from an economic recession in 2010, the company continued to experience declining sales.

🦚 Contradictory Statement – Queen of Good Hooks

Everybody loves to start an argument by contradicting some facts. Therefore, you simply need to add a controversial statement at the beginning of your essay. People of all ages and beliefs will not be able to stop reading it!

Challenging your readers works well for social sciences, business, and psychology topics.

Examples of contradictory statements essay hooks:

If you think being a manager is a calm and relatively easy task, try surviving on five cups of coffee, a sandwich, and two packs of cigarettes a day. You would rather believe that managers only walk around the office and give their staff orders, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, the reality is much harsher than such rainbowy dreams. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. A whole set of personal qualities and professional skills must keep up with the successful strategic planning, assessment, and development. All the tasks the managers need to attend to are nerve-wracking and sometimes almost impossible to do. The stress from the demanding managerial position is often overlooked or underestimated.

Social sciences

Video games have been ruining our kids' lives and leading to an increase in crime. Since the gaming industry's development in recent years, the fear of its adverse effects on the younger generations' brains has become a significant concern. There is such a wide variety of games, ranging from educational to violent shooters and horrors. Almost immediately, caring parents jumped on the latter category, claiming that its impact is too significant and children become more aggressive and uncontrollable. Some supporters of this theory went even further. They decided to link real-life crimes to the effects of violent video games on child and adult behavior. However, as we will see later in this article, there is no or little scientific evidence supporting those ideas.

🔁 Vivid Comparison Essay Hook

Introducing your topic with an engaging, vivid comparison is a universal strategy. It is suitable for any kind of writing. The main idea is to grab your readers’ attention by showing them your unique perspective on the topic. Try to make the comparison amusing and exciting.

Comparison Essay Hook Options:

• Comparison with daily chores (e.g., Proofreading your essays is like cleaning your teeth.)
• Comparison with something everyone hates (e.g., Learning grammar is like going to the dentist.)
• Comparison with something everyone loves (e.g., John was happy like a child eating a free vanilla ice cream.)
• Comparison of modern and old-school phenomena (e.g., Modern email has much in common with pigeon post.)
• Funny comparison (e.g., Justin Bieber is the Michael Jackson of his time)

Check out examples:

Environment

For many people, flying feels like a dream come true. More and more people take their first-ever flight thanks to the rapidly developing aviation technologies. Aircraft and airports are advancing, and air traveling is getting cheaper. However, except for transporting eager travel addicted and business people, planes are used in other ways. It appears that the whole economies across the world depend on the effectiveness and efficiency of airlines. Import and export demand this kind of transportation to work at all times. Aviation development seems like a great thing. However, just like any other technological breakthrough, it comes with a price. Environmental issues did not wait too long to show up.

Social sciences/psychology

Leaving home for the first time as a freshman can only be compared to the level of stress you had in childhood when your mother left you in the line at the checkout for too long. Indeed, becoming a student and moving out of the parent's house comes with a great deal of stress. All the unknown that lies ahead makes youngsters too anxious. Then, the difficulties of financial planning and increased academic pressure come as additional sources of worries. However, it does not have to be such a negative experience. Particular techniques can help students overcome their stress related to the separation from their parents.

📄 Definitions = Easy & Good Hooks for Essays

Another versatile essay hook option is introducing a qualitative definition. Try to make it capacious, and don’t fall into verbal jungles. This narrative hook is perfect for short scientific papers where there is only one focus subject.

Business Ethics

White-collar crime refers to the peaceful offense committed with the intention of gaining unlawful monetary benefits. There are several white-collar crimes that can be executed. They include extortion, insider trading, money laundering, racketeering, securities fraud, and tax evasion. Enron Company was an American based energy company. It was the largest supplier of natural gas in America in the early 1990s. The company had a stunning performance in the 1990s. Despite the excellent performance, stakeholders of the company were concerned about the complexity of the financial statements. The company's management used the complex nature of the financial statements and the accounting standards' weaknesses to manipulate the financial records. The white-collar crime was characterized by inflating the asset values, overstating the reported cash flow, and failure to disclose the financial records' liabilities. This paper carries out an analysis of the Enron scandal as an example of white-collar crime as discussed in the video, The Smartest Guys in the Room.

Motivation is the act of influencing someone to take any action to achieve a particular goal (Montana& Chanov, 2008). Employees' motivation depends on the job's nature, the company's organizational culture, and personal characteristics. In this case study, various theories influence and show how employees can be motivated in the workplace.

📚 Metaphor Hook for Essays

Naturally, using a metaphor as a hook for your essay comes with some limitations. You should only use this type in literature and sometimes in psychology. However, it serves as a great attention grabber if it’s engaging enough.

Let’s see how you can use a metaphor:

When life gives you dirt, don't try to squeeze the juice out of it. It's better to leave it alone and let it dry out a bit. Kate decided to follow this philosophy since nothing else seemed to work. After the painful divorce process, last week's ridiculous work assignments and managing two kids alone almost drove her crazy. No polite discussions, arguing, or bribing helped take care of seemingly a million tasks these little women had to deal with. Even letting out the anger just like her phycologist recommended did not help much. Instead, Kate referred to the last remedy. She put all the issues aside with the hope that it would get better later.

The recipe is relatively easy – take a cup of self-respect, two cups of unconditional love, half a cup of good health, a pinch of new positive experiences, and mix it all for a perfect state of happiness! We all wish it would be possible, right? However, the mystery of this state of being happy is still unsolved. The concept and its perception considerably change depending on time and values. Happiness is so complicated that there is even no universal definition of it. Besides, humans are social creatures, so associating your level of success with others is not unusual. Therefore, being happy means achieving a certain level of several aspects.

🧩 Puzzle? Yes! Amazing Hook for Your Essay

Doesn’t a good riddle grab your attention? Sometimes you just want to find out the answer. The other times, you want to figure out how it is related to the topic. Such a hook would be great for writings on psychology and even economics or business.

Here are the examples:

How many Google office employees you need to destroy a box of fresh donuts? Google is indeed famous for some of the most accommodating and unique working places around the whole world. However, the success of the company does not only appear from treats for employees. It seems that the organizational culture has many effects on business decisions and overall performance. All the staff working in Google share the same visions and values, helping them cooperate and lead the company to success. However, there is one aspect to consider. The organizational culture needs to be adapted to the ever-changing business environment.

Who survives on dirt-like substance, is never joyful, and only returns to the cave to sleep? It sounds horrible, but the correct answer is human. Nowadays, the demands for any kind of workers are rising, which brings tremendous effects on people. As the number of duties increases, it is getting harder for employees not to chug on coffee and come back home in time for a family dinner. The work-life balance is disturbed, leading to anxiety, relationship issues, and even health problems. Social life appears to be as important as making money. Therefore, the correct distribution of time between personal life and work duties is necessary for happiness.

📢 Announcement Is Also a Good Essay Hook Option

Announcements could be suitable for literary pieces and historical essays.

Such a hook doesn’t have to be too long. It should be significant enough to persuade your readers to stick to your writing. Make sure it aligns with your topic as well.

Ways to use announcements as essay hooks:

It was a revolution! The Beatle's first song came out in 1962, and almost immediately, hordes of fans pledged their loyalty to this new band. Nearly all youngsters became obsessed with their music. No one can deny that the Beatles are still considered the creators of some of the best songs in history. However, the arrival of the British band influences culture as well. Many photos depict girls going crazy on live concerts and guys shaping their haircuts after the Beatles' members. The revolution that the band brought left an impact, evidence that we can still trace in modern British culture and music.

I will never go to Starbucks again! Oh, no, mind me. I love their coffee. At some point in my life, I even thought I had an addiction and had to ask my friends to watch my consumption of Pumpkin Spice Latte. Then, the wind of change turned everything upside down. On my usual Starbucks morning run, I noticed a homeless man holding a paper cup begging for money. At first, I didn't pay much attention since it's a usual occurrence in our area. However, one day, I recognized my old neighbor in him. The only cash I had on me, I usually spent on my cup of coffee, but I decided it was not much of a sacrifice. From that moment, I only showed up on that street to shove a few bucks into that poor guy's cup. One day, to my surprise, he talked to me.

ℹ️ Background Information Essay Hook

Last but not least, give background information on your subject to make a good intro. Such an essay hook is effortless and suitable for practically any paper. Try to find the most unobvious angle to the background information. At the same time, keep it short and substantive.

Here are the ways to use background information essay hooks:

Air Arabia is among the leading low-cost carriers in the global airline industry. The airline is mainly based at the Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Air Arabia, 2012). The airline came into inception in 2003 after His Highness Dr. Sheik Mohammed Al Qassimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, issued an Emiri Decree. Later, Air Arabia was transformed into a limited liability company. For nearly a decade, Air Arabia has witnessed tremendous growth, resulting in increased fleet size and improved sales revenues. At the same time, Air Arabia has created a renowned brand that offers reliable and safe services (Dubai Media Incorporated, 2012). Air Arabia identifies itself as a low-cost carrier by providing low fares in the industry. Some of the key strengths of the airline include punctuality and safety. This aims to ensure that the airline serves its customers most efficiently by observing its safety requirements and adhering to the landing and takeoff schedules (De Kluyver, 2010).

Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in the Arkansas United States in 1962 as a grocery store. The company, which operates a chain of over 8,000 stores in fifteen countries, is estimated to employ over two million employees from diverse backgrounds. Wal-Mart was incorporated in 1969 and started trading in the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. […] Although the company can leave its consumers with a saving due to its low-price policy, it has faced some sharp criticisms over how it treats its employees and other stakeholders. Wal-Mart boasts of its ability to save its customers' money, an average of $950 per year. This, however, has been criticized as harming the community. Also, the feminists' activists have focused on Walmart's misconduct in offering low prices. (Fraedrich, Ferrell & Ferrell 440)

Now we won’t keep you for long. Let’s just go through simple points of essay hook writing.

Someone may think that you have to write your hook first. It comes first in the paper, right?

In reality, though, you can wait until your entire essay is nearly finished. Then go back and rewrite the very first paragraph. This way, you can have a fresh look at what you’ve written in the beginning.

Here’s a simple plan you can follow.

• First, write a basic version of your thesis statement.
• Then, provide supporting evidence for your thesis in every body paragraph.
• After that, reword your thesis statement and write your concluding paragraph.
• Finally, search for an attention-grabbing fact, statistic, or anything from the list above to serve as an engaging essay hook.

Add this essay hook to the beginning of your introduction. Make sure that your ideas still flow naturally into your thesis statement.

⚠️ Pro tip: choose various hooks and play around, adding each hook to your introduction paragraph. Like this, you can determine which one makes the most impressive beginning to your paper.

Some of your choices may sound interesting but may not lead to your essay’s main point. Don’t panic! Paper writing always involves trial and error. Just keep trying your essay hook ideas until one fits perfectly.

That’s it 😊

Good luck with your work!

🔗 References

• Hook – Examples and Definition of Hook
• How to Engage the Reader in the Opening Paragraph – BBC
• Hooks and Attention Grabbers; George Brown College Writing Centre
• Hook Examples and Definition; Literary Devices
• What Is a Narrative Hook? Video
• How to: Writing Hooks or Attention-Getting Openings-YouTube

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Cultural Identity Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

No matter where you study, composing essays of any type and complexity is a critical component in any studying program. Most likely, you have already been assigned the task to write a cultural identity essay, which is an essay that has to do a lot with your personality and cultural background. In essence, writing a cultural identity essay is fundamental for providing the reader with an understanding of who you are and which outlook you have. This may include the topics of religion, traditions, ethnicity, race, and so on. So, what shall you do to compose a winning cultural identity essay?

Cultural Identity Paper: Definitions, Goals & Topics 

Before starting off with a cultural identity essay, it is fundamental to uncover what is particular about this type of paper. First and foremost, it will be rather logical to begin with giving a general and straightforward definition of a cultural identity essay. In essence, cultural identity essay implies outlining the role of the culture in defining your outlook, shaping your personality, points of view regarding a multitude of matters, and forming your qualities and beliefs. Given a simpler definition, a cultural identity essay requires you to write about how culture has influenced your personality and yourself in general. So in this kind of essay you as a narrator need to give an understanding of who you are, which strengths you have, and what your solid life position is.

Yet, the goal of a cultural identity essay is not strictly limited to describing who you are and merely outlining your biography. Instead, this type of essay pursues specific objectives, achieving which is a perfect indicator of how high-quality your essay is. Initially, the primary goal implies outlining your cultural focus and why it makes you peculiar. For instance, if you are a french adolescent living in Canada, you may describe what is so special about it: traditions of the community, beliefs, opinions, approaches. Basically, you may talk about the principles of the society as well as its beliefs that made you become the person you are today.

So far, cultural identity is a rather broad topic, so you will likely have a multitude of fascinating ideas for your paper. For instance, some of the most attention-grabbing topics for a personal cultural identity essay are:

• Memorable traditions of your community
• A cultural event that has influenced your personality 
• Influential people in your community
• Locations and places that tell a lot about your culture and identity

Cultural Identity Essay Structure

As you might have already guessed, composing an essay on cultural identity might turn out to be fascinating but somewhat challenging. Even though the spectrum of topics is rather broad, the question of how to create the most appropriate and appealing structure remains open.

Like any other kind of an academic essay, a cultural identity essay must compose of three parts: introduction, body, and concluding remarks. Let’s take a more detailed look at each of the components:

Introduction 

Starting to write an essay is most likely one of the most time-consuming and mind-challenging procedures. Therefore, you can postpone writing your introduction and approach it right after you finish body paragraphs. Nevertheless, you should think of a suitable topic as well as come up with an explicit thesis. At the beginning of the introduction section, give some hints regarding the matter you are going to discuss. You have to mention your thesis statement after you have briefly guided the reader through the topic. You can also think of indicating some vital information about yourself, which is, of course, relevant to the topic you selected.

Your main body should reveal your ideas and arguments. Most likely, it will consist of 3-5 paragraphs that are more or less equal in size. What you have to keep in mind to compose a sound ‘my cultural identity essay’ is the argumentation. In particular, always remember to reveal an argument and back it up with evidence in each body paragraph. And, of course, try to stick to the topic and make sure that you answer the overall question that you stated in your topic. Besides, always keep your thesis statement in mind: make sure that none of its components is left without your attention and argumentation.

Conclusion 

Finally, after you are all finished with body paragraphs and introduction, briefly summarize all the points in your final remarks section. Paraphrase what you have already revealed in the main body, and make sure you logically lead the reader to the overall argument. Indicate your cultural identity once again and draw a bottom line regarding how your culture has influenced your personality.

Best Tips For Writing Cultural Identity Essay

Writing a ‘cultural identity essay about myself’ might be somewhat challenging at first. However, you will no longer struggle if you take a couple of plain tips into consideration. Following the tips below will give you some sound and reasonable cultural identity essay ideas as well as make the writing process much more pleasant:

• Start off by creating an outline. The reason why most students struggle with creating a cultural identity essay lies behind a weak structure. The best way to organize your ideas and let them flow logically is to come up with a helpful outline. Having a reference to build on is incredibly useful, and it allows your essay to look polished.
• Remember to write about yourself. The task of a cultural identity essay implies not focusing on your culture per se, but to talk about how it shaped your personality. So, switch your focus to describing who you are and what your attitudes and positions are. 
• Think of the most fundamental cultural aspects. Needless to say, you first need to come up with a couple of ideas to be based upon in your paper. So, brainstorm all the possible ideas and try to decide which of them deserve the most attention. In essence, try to determine which of the aspects affected your personality the most.
• Edit and proofread before submitting your paper. Of course, the content and the coherence of your essay’s structure play a crucial role. But the grammatical correctness matters a lot too. Even if you are a native speaker, you may still make accidental errors in the text. To avoid the situation when unintentional mistakes spoil the impression from your essay, always double check your cultural identity essay. 

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6 Diversity College Essay Examples

What’s covered:, how to write the diversity essay after the end of affirmative action, essay #1: jewish identity, essay #2: being bangladeshi-american, essay #3: marvel vs dc, essay #4: leadership as a first-gen american, essay #5: protecting the earth, essay #6: music and accents, where to get your diversity essays edited, what is the diversity essay.

While working on your college applications, you may come across essays that focus on diversity , culture, or values. The purpose of these essays is to highlight any diverse views or opinions that you may bring to campus. Colleges want a diverse student body that’s made up of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and interests. These essay prompts are a way for them to see what students can bring to their school.

In this post, we will share six essays written by real students that cover the topic of culture and diversity. We’ll also include what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement. Hopefully, this will be a useful resource to inspire your own diversity essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. That said, you should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and they will not have a favorable view of students who have plagiarized.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of race in college admissions was unconstitutional. In other words, they struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions . This will affect college-bound students of color in a number of ways, including lowering their chances of acceptance and reducing the amount of direct outreach they’ll receive from colleges. Another change to consider is the ways in which students should tackle their diversity essays.

Although colleges can no longer directly factor race into admissions, students aren’t prohibited from discussing their racial backgrounds in supplemental application essays. If your racial background is important to you, seriously consider writing about it in your diversity essays. If you don’t, admissions officers are extremely limited in their ability to consider your race when making an admission decision.

As in the essays listed below, discussing your race is an excellent tool for showing admissions officers the person behind the grades and test scores. Beyond that, it provides admissions officers with an opportunity to put themselves in your shoes—showing them how your background has presented challenges to overcome, helped build important life skills, and taught you valuable lessons.

Diversity Essay Examples

I was thirsty. In my wallet was a lone $10 bill, ultimately useless at my school’s vending machine. Tasked with scrounging together the $1 cost of a water bottle, I fished out and arranged the spare change that normally hid in the bottom of my backpack in neat piles of nickels and dimes on my desk. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head.

“Want your money back, Jew?” she chanted, waving the coins around. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to the stacks of coins. I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting antisemitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before. I grabbed my bag and sternly told her to leave. Although she sauntered away, the impact remained.

This incident serves as an example of the adversity I have and will continue to face from those who only see me as a stereotype. Ironically, however, these experiences of discrimination have only increased my pride as a member of the Jewish Community. Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family. I find meaning and direction in my community’s values, such as pride, education, and giving—and I am eager to transfer these values to my new community: the Duke community.

What the Essay Did Well

Writing about discrimination can be difficult, but if you are comfortable doing it, it can make for a powerful story. Although this essay is short and focused on one small interaction, it represents a much larger struggle for this student, and for that reason it makes the essay very impactful.

The author takes her time at the beginning of the essay to build the scene for the audience, which allows us to feel like we are there with her, making the hateful comments even more jarring later on. If she had just told us her classmate teased her with harmful stereotypes, we wouldn’t feel the same sense of anger as we do knowing that she was just trying to get a drink and ended up being harassed.

This essay does another important thing—it includes self-reflection on the experience and on the student’s identity. Without elaborating on the emotional impact of a situation, an essay about discrimination would make admission officers feel bad for the student, but they wouldn’t be compelled to admit the student. By describing how experiences like these drive her and make her more determined to embody positive values, this student reveals her character to the readers.

What Could Be Improved

While including emotional reflection in the latter half of the essay is important, the actual sentences could be tightened up a bit to leave a stronger impression. The student does a nice job of showing us her experience with antisemitism, but she just tells us about the impact it has on her. If she instead showed us what the impact looked like, the essay would be even better.

For example, rather than telling us “Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family,” she could have shown that connection: “My Star-of-David necklace thumps against my heart with every step I take, reminding me of my great-grandparents who had to hide their stars, my grandma’s spindly fingers lighting the menorah each Hanukkah, and my uncle’s homemade challah bread.” This new sentence reveals so much more than the existing sentence about the student and the deep connection she feels with her family and religion.

Life before was good: verdant forests, sumptuous curries, and a devoted family.

Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, we were vulnerable—prisoners of hardship in the land of the free.

We resettled in the Bronx, in my uncle’s renovated basement. It was meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever. Gone were the high-rise condos of West L.A.; instead, government projects towered over the neighborhood. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, even toxic. Schoolkids were quick to pick on those they saw as weak or foreign, hurling harsh words I’d never heard before.

Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while fathers drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside—painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities.

During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents who wore suits to work, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.

As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced—everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild.

I’d never exposed myself to stories like these, and now I was the first to hear them. As an intern, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways—pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts.

Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. Throughout that summer, I internalized my community’s daily challenges in a new light. I began to see the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but that could ultimately be remedied.

I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and the office’s constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride—a perspective I never expected to have.

I can now appreciate the value of my unique culture and background, and the value of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. My time with Assemblyman Sepulveda’s office taught me that I can be an agent of change who can enable this progression. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream. I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better.

This student’s passion for social justice and civic duty shines through in this essay because of how honest it is. Sharing their personal experience with immigrating, moving around, being an outsider, and finding a community allows us to see the hardships this student has faced and builds empathy towards their situation.

However, what really makes it strong is that the student goes beyond describing the difficulties they faced and explains the mental impact it had on them as a child: “Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.” The rejection of their culture presented at the beginning of the essay creates a nice juxtaposition with the student’s view in the latter half of the essay, and helps demonstrate how they have matured.

They then use their experience interning as a way to delve into a change in their thought process about their culture. This experience also serves as a way to show how their passion for social justice began. Using this experience as a mechanism to explore their thoughts and feelings is an excellent example of how items that are included elsewhere on your application should be incorporated into your essay.

This essay prioritizes emotions and personal views over specific anecdotes. Although there are details and certain moments incorporated throughout to emphasize the author’s points, the main focus remains on the student and how they grapple with their culture and identity.

One area for improvement is the conclusion. Although the forward-looking approach is a nice way to end an essay focused on social justice, it would be nice to include more details and imagery in the conclusion. How does the student want to help their community? What government position do they see themselves holding one day?

A more impactful ending might describe the student walking into their office at the New York City Housing Authority in 15 years. This future student might be looking at the plans to build a new development in the Bronx just blocks away from where they grew up that would provide quality housing to people in their Bangladeshi community. They would smile while thinking about how far they have come from that young kid who used to be ashamed of their culture.

Superhero cinema is an oligopoly consisting of two prominent, towering brands: Marvel and DC. I’m a religious supporter of Marvel, but last year, I discovered that my friend, Tom, was a DC fan. After a vociferous 20-minute quarrel about which was better, we decided to allocate one day to have a professional debate, using carefully assembled and coherent arguments.

One week later, we both brought pages of notes and evidence cards (I also had my Iron-Man bobblehead for moral support). Our impartial moderator—a Disney fan—sat in the middle with a stopwatch, open-policy style. I began the debate by discussing how Marvel accentuated the humanity of the storyline—such as in Tony Stark’s transformation from an egotistical billionaire to a compassionate father—which drew in a broader audience, because more people resonated with certain aspects of the characters. Tom rebutted this by capitalizing on how Deadpool was a duplicate of Deathstroke, how Vision copied Red Tornado, and how DC sold more comics than Marvel.

40 minutes later, we reached an impasse. We were out of cards, and we both made excellent points, so our moderator was unable to declare a winner. Difficult conversations aren’t necessarily always the ones that make political headlines. Instead, a difficult discussion involves any topic with which people share an emotional connection.

Over the years, I became so emotionally invested in Marvel that my mind erected an impenetrable shield, blocking out all other possibilities. Even today, we haven’t decided which franchise was better, but I realized that I was undermining DC for no reason other than my own ignorance.

The inevitability of diversity suggests that it is our responsibility to understand the other person and what they believe in. We may not always experience a change in opinion, but we can grant ourselves the opportunity to expand our global perspective. I strive to continue this adventure to increase my awareness as a superhero aficionado, activist, and student, by engaging in conversations that require me to think beyond what I believe and to view the world from others’ perspectives.

And yes, Tom is still my friend.

Diversity doesn’t always have to be about culture or heritage; diversity exists all around us, even in our comic book preferences. The cleverness of this essay lies in the way the student flipped the traditional diversity prompt on its head and instead discussed his diverse perspective on a topic he is passionate about. If you don’t have a cultural connection you are compelled to write about, this is a nifty approach to a diversity prompt—if it’s handled appropriately.

While this student has a non-traditional topic, he still presents it in a way that pays respect to the key aspects of a diversity essay: depicting his perspective and recognizing the importance of diverse views. Just as someone who is writing about a culture that is possibly unfamiliar to the reader, the student describes what makes Marvel and DC unique and important to him and his friend, respectively. He also expands on how a lack of diversity in superhero consumption led to his feeling of ignorance, and how it now makes him appreciate the need for diversity in all aspects of his life.

This student is unapologetically himself in this essay, which is ultimately why this unorthodox topic is able to work. He committed to his passion for Marvel by sharing analytical takes on characters and demonstrating how the franchise was so important to his identity that it momentarily threatened a friendship. The inclusion of humor through his personal voice—e.g., referring to the argument as a professional debate and telling us that the friendship lived on—contributes to the essay feeling deeply personal.

Choosing an unconventional topic for a diversity essay requires extra care and attention to ensure that you are still addressing the core of the prompt. That being said, if you accomplish it successfully, it makes for an incredibly memorable essay that could easily set you apart!

While this is a great essay as is, the idea of diversity could have been addressed a little bit earlier in the piece to make it absolutely clear the student is writing about his diverse perspective. He positions Marvel and DC as two behemoths in the superhero movie industry, but in the event that his reader is unfamiliar with these two brands, there is little context about the cultural impact each has on its fans.

To this student, Marvel is more than just a movie franchise; it’s a crucial part of his identity, just as someone’s race or religion might be. In order for the reader to fully understand the weight of his perspective, there should be further elaboration—towards the beginning—on how important Marvel is to this student.

Leadership was thrust upon me at a young age. When I was six years old, my abusive father abandoned my family, leaving me to step up as the “man” of the house. From having to watch over my little sister to cooking dinner three nights a week, I never lived an ideal suburban life. I didn’t enjoy the luxuries of joining after-school activities, getting driven to school or friends’ houses, or taking weekend trips to the movies or bowling alley. Instead, I spent my childhood navigating legal hurdles, shouldering family responsibilities, and begrudgingly attending court-mandated therapy sessions.

At the same time, I tried to get decent grades and maintain my Colombian roots and Spanish fluency enough to at least partially communicate with my grandparents, both of whom speak little English. Although my childhood had its bright and joyful moments, much of it was weighty and would have been exhausting for any child to bear. In short, I grew up fast. However, the responsibilities I took on at home prepared me to be a leader and to work diligently, setting me up to use these skills later in life.

I didn’t have much time to explore my interests until high school, where I developed my knack for government and for serving others. Being cast in a lead role in my school’s fall production as a freshman was the first thing to give me the confidence I needed to pursue other activities: namely, student government. Shortly after being cast, I was elected Freshman Vice-President, a role that put me in charge of promoting events, delegating daily office tasks, collaborating with the administration on new school initiatives, and planning trips and fundraisers.

While my new position demanded a significant amount of responsibility, my childhood of helping my mom manage our household prepared me to be successful in the role. When I saw the happy faces of my classmates after a big event, I felt proud to know that I had made even a small difference to them. Seeing projects through to a successful outcome was thrilling. I enjoyed my time and responsibilities so much that I served all four years of high school, going on to become Executive Vice-President.

As I found success in high school, my mother and grandparents began speaking more about the life they faced prior to emigrating from Colombia. To better connect with them, I took a series of Spanish language classes to regain my fluency. After a practice run through my presentation on Bendíceme, Ultima ( Bless me, Ultima ) by Rudolofo Anaya, with my grandmother, she squeezed my hand and told me the story of how my family was forced from their home in order to live free of religious persecution. Though my grandparents have often expressed how much better their lives and their children’s lives have been in America, I have often struggled with my identity. I felt that much of it was erased with my loss of our native language.

In elementary school, I learned English best because in class I was surrounded by it. Spanish was more difficult to grasp without a formal education, and my family urged me to become fluent in English so I could be of better help to them in places as disparate as government agencies and grocery stores. When I was old enough to recognize the large part of my identity still rooted in being Colombian, it was challenging to connect these two sides of who I was.

Over time I have been able to reconcile the two in the context of my aspirations. I found purpose and fulfillment through student council, and I knew that I could help other families like my own if I worked in local government. By working through city offices that address housing, education, and support for survivors of childhood abuse, I could give others the same liberties and opportunities my family has enjoyed in this country. Doing so would also help me honor my roots as a first-generation American.

I have been a leader my entire life. Both at Harvard and after graduation, I want to continue that trend. I hope to volunteer with organizations that share my goals. I want to advise policy-making politicians on ways to make children and new immigrants safer and more secure. When my family was at their worst, my community gave back. I hope to give that gift to future generations. A career in local, city-based public service is not a rashly made decision; it is a reflection of where I’ve already been in life, and where I want to be in the future.

Although this essay begins on a somber note, it goes on to show this student’s determination and the joy he found. Importantly, it also ends with a positive, forward-looking perspective. This is a great example of how including your hardship can bolster an essay as long as it is not the essay’s main focus.

Explaining the challenges this student faced from a young age—becoming the man of the house, dealing with legal matters, maintaining good grades, etc.—builds sympathy for his situation. However, the first paragraph is even more impactful because he explains the emotional toll these actions had on him. We understand how he lost the innocence of his childhood and how he struggled to remain connected to his Colombian heritage with all his other responsibilities. Including these details truly allows the reader to see this student’s struggle, making us all the more joyful when he comes out stronger in the end.

Pivoting to discuss positive experiences with student government and Spanish classes for the rest of the essay demonstrates that this student has a positive approach to life and is willing to push through challenges. The tone of the essay shifts from heavy to uplifting. He explains the joy he got out of helping his classmates and connecting with his grandparents, once again providing emotional reflection to make the reader care more.

Overall, this essay does a nice job of demonstrating how this student approaches challenges and negative experiences. Admitting that the responsibilities of his childhood had a silver lining shows his maturity and how he will be able to succeed in government one day. The essay strikes a healthy balance between challenge and hope, leaving us with a positive view of a student with such emotional maturity.

Although the content of this essay is very strong, it struggles with redundancy and disorganized information. He mentions his passion for government at the beginning of the student government paragraph, then again addresses government in the paragraph focused on his Colombian heritage, and concludes by talking about how he wants to get into government once more. Similarly, in the first paragraph, he discusses the struggle of maintaining his Colombian identity and then fully delves into that topic in the third paragraph.

The repetition of ideas and lack of a streamlined organization of this student’s thoughts diminishes some of the emotional impact of the story. The reader is left trying to piece together a swirling mass of information on their own, rather than having a focused, sequential order to follow.

This could be fixed if the student rearranged details to make each paragraph focused on a singular idea. For example, the first paragraph could be about his childhood. The second could be about how student government sparked his interest in government and what he hopes to do one day. The third could be about how he reconnected with his Colombian roots through his Spanish classes, after years of struggling with his identity. And the final paragraph could tie everything together by explaining how everything led to him wanting to pursue a future serving others, particularly immigrants like his family.

Alternatively, the essay could follow a sequential order that would start with his childhood, then explain his struggle with his identity, then show how student government and Spanish classes helped him find himself, and finally, conclude with what he hopes to accomplish by pursuing government.

I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U.S., we shared a common purpose: immersing ourselves in our passion for protecting the natural world.

Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns. My classmates debated the feasibility of Trump’s wall, not the deteriorating state of our planet. Contrastingly, these seven strangers delighted in bird-watching, brightened at the mention of medicinal tree sap, and understood why I once ran across a four-lane highway to retrieve discarded beer cans.

Their histories barely resembled mine, yet our values aligned intimately. We did not hesitate to joke about bullet ants, gush about the versatility of tree bark, or discuss the destructive consequences of materialism. Together, we let our inner tree-huggers run free.

In the short life of our little community, we did what we thought was impossible. By feeding on each other’s infectious tenacity, we cultivated an atmosphere that deepened our commitment to our values and empowered us to speak out on behalf of the environment. After a week of stimulating conversations and introspective revelations about engaging people from our hometowns in environmental advocacy, we developed a shared determination to devote our lives to this cause.

As we shared a goodbye hug, my new friend whispered, “The world needs saving. Someone’s gotta do it.” For the first time, I believed that that someone could be me.

This student is expressing their diversity through their involvement in a particular community—another nice approach if you don’t want to write about culture or ethnicity. We all have unique things that we geek out over. This student expresses the joy that they derived from finding a community where they could express their love for the environment. Passion is fundamental to university life and generally finds its way into any successful application.

The essay finds strength in the fact that readers feel for the student. We get a little bit of backstory about where they come from and how they felt silenced— “Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns” —so it’s easy to feel joy for them when they get set free and finally find their community.

This student displays clear values: community, ecoconsciousness, dedication, and compassion. An admissions officer who reads a diversity essay is looking for students with strong values who will enrich the university community with their unique perspective—that sounds just like this student!

One area of weakness in this essay is the introduction. The opening line— “I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest” —is a bit clichéd. Introductions should be captivating and build excitement and suspense for what is to come. Simply telling the reader about how your experience made you understand the power of community reveals the main takeaway of your essay without the reader needing to go any further.

Instead of starting this essay with a summary of what the essay is about, the student should have made their hook part of the story. Whether that looks like them being exasperated with comments their classmates made about politics, or them looking around apprehensively at the seven strangers in their program as they all boarded their flight, the student should start off in the action.

India holds a permanent place in my heart and ears. Whenever I returned on a trip or vacation, I would show my grandmother how to play Monopoly and she would let me tie her sari. I would teach my grandfather English idioms—which he would repeat to random people and fishmongers on the streets—and he would teach me Telugu phrases.

It was a curious exchange of worlds that I am reminded of every time I listen to Indian music. It was these tunes that helped me reconnect with my heritage and ground my meandering identity. Indian music, unlike the stereotype I’d long been imbued with, was not just a one-and-done Bollywood dance number! Each region and language was like an island with its own unique sonic identity. I’m grateful for my discovery of Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil tunes, for these discoveries have opened me up to the incredible smorgasbord of diversity, depth, and complexity within the subcontinent I was born in.

Here’s an entirely-different sonic identity for you: Texan slang. “Couldya pass the Mango seltzer, please, hon?” asked my Houstonian neighbor, Rae Ann—her syllables melding together like the sticky cake batter we were making.

Rae Ann and her twang were real curiosities to me. Once, she invited my family to a traditional Texan barbecue with the rest of our neighbors. As Hindus, we didn’t eat beef, so we showed up with chicken kebabs, instead. Rather than looking at us bizarrely, she gladly accepted the dish, lining it up beside grilled loins and hamburger patties.

Her gesture was a small but very well-accepted one and I quickly became convinced she was the human manifestation of “Southern hospitality”—something reflected in each of her viscous, honey-dripping phrases. “Watch out for the skeeters!” was an excellent example. It was always funny at first, but conveyed a simple message: We’ve got each other’s backs and together, we can overcome the blood-sucking mosquitoes of the Houstonian summer! I began to see how her words built bridges, not boundaries.

I believe that sounds—whether it’s music or accents—can make a difference in the ways we perceive and accept individuals from other backgrounds. But sound is about listening too. In Rice’s residential college, I would be the type of person to strike up a conversation with an international student and ask for one of their Airpods (you’d be surprised how many different genres and languages of music I’ve picked up in this way!).

As both an international student and Houstonian at heart, I hope to bridge the gap between Rice’s domestic and international populations. Whether it’s organizing cultural events or simply taking the time to get to know a student whose first language isn’t English, I look forward to listening to the stories that only a fellow wanderer can tell.

This essay does an excellent job of addressing two aspects of this student’s identity. Looking at diversity through sound is a very creative way to descriptively depict their Indian and Texan cultures. Essays are always more successful when they stimulate the senses, so framing the entire response around sound automatically opens the door for vivid imagery.

The quotes from this student’s quirky neighbor bring a sense of realism to the essay. We can feel ourselves at the barbecue and hear her thick Texan accent coming through. The way people communicate is a huge part of their culture and identity, so the way that this student perfectly captures the essence of their Texan identity with accented phrases is skillfully done.

This essay does such a great job of making the sounds of Texas jump off the page, so it is a bit disappointing that it wasn’t able to accomplish the same for India. The student describes the different Indian languages and music styles, but doesn’t bring them to life with quotes or onomatopoeia in the manner that they did for the sounds of Texas.

They could have described the buzz of the sitar or the lyrical pattern of the Telugu phrases their grandfather taught them. Telling us about the diversity of sounds in Indian music is fine, but if the reader can’t appreciate what those sounds resemble, it makes it harder to understand the Indian half of the author’s identity. Especially since this student emulated the sounds and essence of Texas so well, it’s important that India is given the same treatment so we can fully appreciate both sides of this essay.

More Supplemental Essay Tips

How to Write a Stellar “Why This College?” Essay + Examples

How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

Do you want feedback on your diversity essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

How to Write Great Essay Hooks (Tips + Examples)

Table of contents

Yona Schnitzer

Blank screen. Cursor blinks. Clock ticks. Brain freezes.

You stressfully wonder, “How will I ever finish this essay?”

I’ve been there. 

Every time you write an essay, you want to catch your readers’ undivided attention from the very first word. The opening hook has to be *perfect* — no compromises. 

But, instead of reeling under pressure to come up with this elusively perfect essay hook at the eleventh hour, I’ve found a better way to write great essay hooks. 

In this guide, I’ll tell you what it takes to write the most compelling and attention-grabbing hooks. I’ll also break down six awesome types of essay hooks you can experiment with and share examples to inspire your next opening statement.

What is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook is the opening statement of an essay, written to capture readers' attention and nudge them to learn more about the topic. Also known as a lede or lead, this hook introduces readers to the topic/theme of the essay and piques their curiosity to continue reading. 

The hook creates the entire narrative for your essay. It tells readers what to expect from the rest of the essay and creates context around your main argument or thesis statement. 

6 Types of Essay Hooks You Can Experiment With

I’ve created this handy list of six different types of essay hooks. You can choose the one that best fits your essay’s context and create a stellar opening statement within minutes. 

1. Compelling fact or statistic

Lead with evidence and use a powerful fact or statistic as your essay hook. It’s one of the best ways to capture readers’ attention from the start and keep them intrigued throughout your essay. 

For example, if you’re writing about the importance of time management for freelancers, you have two options to create your opening sentence:

Generic : “Managing time as a freelancer is no easy feat.”

Impactful : “Nearly 70% of freelancers struggle to effectively divide and manage their time between multiple clients.” 

This data point, linked to the original research, sets a strong tone for your essay and draws people in to read more. It communicates  

Find a shocking statistic with AI

Finding relevant statistics for any topic is one of the hardest parts of the job. 

But you don't have to spend hours looking for these data points anymore. Wordtune can do this heavy lifting for you in three easy steps.

• Open the Wordtune editor and add your essay title. 
• Type in any content you've written, click on 'Add spice,' and select the 'Expand on' option.
• Write 'statistics,' and Wordtune will add relevant data points to your content.

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

2. Bold claim hook

When working on an argumentative essay , I always write with the mindset that nobody has the time to read my thoughts from start to finish. So, I have to get to the point quickly and make a solid argument worth people’s time. 

That's when opening with a bold claim works best. Condense all your views on the topic into a few thought-provoking lines that would make readers go, hmmm…

But remember, you can't open with a claim that people already know and accept as fact. It has to be something original and unique to make your readers tick, nudging them to dive deeper into your essay. 

For example, if you’re writing about water crisis, you have two options to open your essay: 

‍ "In some regions, there is not enough clean water for people to use."

‍ "Imagine a world where every drop of water is a battle, a precious commodity fought over by scores of people and animals alike. This can become a reality as early as 2050."

This bold claim presents a convincing argument about the global water crisis. It also emphasizes the urgency of this argument with a research-backed statistic.

Create a bold claim suggestion using AI

Can’t think of a strong opening sentence for your essay? Wordtune can translate your thoughts into a bold claim and create a compelling essay hook. 

Open your Wordtune editor and write a few lines related to your topic. These sentences should have a consensus among your audience. Then, choose the 'Counterargument' option from the list of suggestions. 

And you’ll have a bold claim for your essay with no effort at all!

3. Story/Anecdote hook

In all my years of writing, I’ve noticed how stories have a unique effect on people. A good story can resonate with a bigger audience, pique their curiosity, and deliver a more personal message. 

That's why you can cite a personal anecdote or talk about a publicly known story as a good hook for your essay. This hook allows you to play with words and work in more storytelling . 

One of my favorite writing tips applies here: enter the scene as late as possible and leave as early as possible. You have to keep it crisp instead of rambling on and on. 

Consider these two examples:

Either of these hooks could work fine if we were just writing a personal essay about a move to a new place. But if we’re specifically writing about the sky, the second example is better. It sticks to the point — the sky and the color of the sky — and doesn’t stray into irrelevant details. 

Create a compelling story with AI

I get it—not all of us are natural storytellers. But you can use AI to your advantage to create a concise and exciting story for your essay.  

Wordtune can help you write a short story from scratch or trim down your writing into a quick anecdote. Click on the expand or shorten button to edit your story any way you like. 

4. Question Hook

Humans have a tendency to immediately look for answers every time they come across fascinating questions. Using questions as essay hooks can reel people into your essay and feed their curiosity.

But questions are also fairly overused in essays. You don't want to use a generic question that makes people say, " Not another question ." 

Instead, think of questions that approach your topic from a fresh angle. This means honing in on what was especially interesting or surprising from your research—and maybe even brainstorming different questions to find the most fascinating one.

For example, if you’re writing about the psychology behind why we buy, you have two options to open your essay:

‍ “Do you know what factors compel us to buy certain things?”

Plugged in :

“Before buying anything, have you ever taken a moment to pause and think about possible reasons driving you to this purchase?”

The latter is more descriptive and creates a realistic scenario for readers to truly think about the topic of the essay.

5. Description hook

A descriptive hook works best when writing an explanatory or opinion-led essay. Descriptive hooks, as the name suggests, illustrate a topic in detail to create context for the essay. It's a good way to build awareness for and educate readers on lesser-known themes.

But a descriptive hook can easily become too plain or unexciting to read. To make it work, you have to write an engaging description using imagery, analogies, and other figures of speech. 

Remember to make your hook reader-friendly by avoiding passive voice, mainstream cliches, and lengthy sentences.

Consider this example:

Describing a sunset is too cliche, so cross that one off the list. Describing the sky as it is on a normal day wouldn't be shocking or unexpected, so scratch that one, too.

This example creates something unique by using analogies to describe the color of the sky and painting a beautiful picture. 

Write a gripping description with AI

Writing an exciting hook for a boring topic is more challenging than it looks. But Wordtune makes it a breeze with just two steps:

• Open the Wordtune editor and write your essay topic.
• Click on Explain or Emphasize and let it work its magic.

You can also change the tone of voice to make the text more in tune with your theme. 

6. Metaphor hook

One of my favorite essay hooks is to open with a persuasive metaphor to contextualize the topic. Metaphors can help you approach the topic from a completely different lens and wow your readers with interesting insight. 

Metaphors are also super versatile to make your writing more impactful. You can write a one-line metaphor or create a scenario comparing one thing to another and linking it to your topic. 

For example, if you’re writing about the experience of working at a startup, you can open your essay with these two options:

Short & sweet: "Joining a startup is like strapping into a rollercoaster: be ready to witness thrilling highs and sinking drops."

Long & descriptive : “Picture a small sailboat navigating the unpredictable winds and tides in a vast ocean. That’s a startup operating in a massive market. And with the right vision, this journey is filled with risks and rewards.” 

Create a convincing metaphor with AI

Writing good metaphors takes up a lot of creative brain power. You can always use Wordtune to find some extra inspiration if you're out of creative ideas. 

Type your opening line in the Wordtune editor and click on the 'Give an analogy' option. You can ask for as many suggestions as you want till you find the best one! 

What to Know About Your Essay (and Topic) Before You Write the Hook

Whether you’re writing a research paper on economics, an argumentative essay for your college composition class, or a personal essay sharing your thoughts on a topic, you need to nail down a few things before you settle on the first line for your essay.

‍ Let me break them down for you. 

1. Gain in-depth knowledge of your topic

Before you start writing your essay, you need to know your topic — not just in name, but in-depth. You don't have to become a subject matter expert overnight. But you do need to research the topic inside out 

Your research will help you:

• Narrow your focus
• Build an argument
• Shape the narrative

Your research insights determine your essay’s structure and guide your choice of hook. 

After organizing your research in a neat outline, think to yourself: ‍Did you uncover a shocking fact? A compelling anecdote? An interesting quote? Any of those things could be your hook.

⚡ ‍ Take action: After finishing your research, review your notes and think through your essay. Mark or make a list of anything compelling enough to be a good lead.

2. Type of essay

In academic settings, there are generally three kinds of essays:

• Argumentative: Making the case for a certain stance or route of action.
• Expository: Explaining the who, what, when, where, why, and how of some phenomenon.
• Narrative: Telling a true story as a way to explore different ideas.

‍ The type of essay you’re writing is key to choosing the best hook for your piece. 

A serious argumentative essay can start with a shocking statistic or a bold claim. And an expository essay can open with a descriptive hook while a metaphor hook would work best for a narrative essay.

⚡ ‍ Take action: Go through your list of potential hooks and cross out anything that doesn't fit the type of essay you're writing, whether it's persuasive , argumentative, or any other type.

3. Audience and tone

A best practice I often share with writers is to think of one reader and keep yourself in their shoes . This exercise can tell you so much about your audience — what kind of tone they like, what matters the most to them, what topics interest them, and so on. 

You can use these insights to create a compelling essay hook. Here’s how:

• For an argumentative essay, you’re trying to convince someone who doesn’t agree with you that what you’re claiming is right or, at least, reasonable. You don’t want to turn them off with snarky or offensive language — but you do want to be authoritative. Your hook should match that tone and support your effort.
• A narrative essay is likely to welcome more lyrical language, so starting with a colorful description or an anecdote might make more sense than, say, a bold claim or surprising fact. Whatever tone you choose for your narrative essay — comical or gentle or bold — should be used for your hook.
• ‍ Expository essays can use all sorts of tones and be written to a variety of audiences, so think carefully about the tone that best fits your subject matter. An essay explaining how the human body shuts down when overdosed will likely require a different tone than one on the lives of circus masters in the late 1800s. 

⚡ ‍ Take action: Look at your list. Can you write these potential hooks in a tone that suits your subject and audience?

4. Length of essay

Are you writing a 10-page paper or a three-page reflection? Or is this your senior thesis, pushing over 100 pages?

‍ If you’re writing a shorter paper, you’ll want to keep your hook quick and snappy.  

Readers are expecting a quick read, and they don’t want to spend five minutes only going through the introduction. 

In contrast, you can approach a longer essay — like a senior thesis or a term paper — with a longer hook. Just make sure your hook relates to and supports the core point of your essay. You don’t want to waste space describing a scene that ultimately has nothing to do with the rest of your piece.

⚡ ‍ Take action: If you write out the items on your list, how long will they be? A sentence or paragraph? Perfect. Two to five paragraphs? Unless your essay is on the longer side, you may want to save that information for later in the piece.

‍ Now that you know the basic facts about what you’re writing, let’s look at some approaches you could use to catch those readers — and reel them in.

3 Approaches to Avoid When Writing Hooks 

I’ve read hundreds of essays — enough to recognize lazy writing from the first few words. It’s equally easy for readers to discard your essays as ‘poorly written’ just by reading the first line. 

So, I made a list of three types of essay hooks you want to avoid at all costs because these hooks can only disappoint your readers. 

1. Quotations

Quotes are probably the most overused type of hook in any form of writing. What's even worse is rinsing and repeating the same old quotes from Abraham Lincoln or Nelson Mandela in your essays. 

No matter how powerful a quote sounds, you shouldn’t slap it at the opening of your essay. It doesn’t give readers the excitement of reading something original and looks lazy.

For example, if you’re writing an essay on productivity, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work” – Stephen King

Did you know that consuming 100 gms of sugar can slash your productivity levels by over 50% in a day?  

2. Definitions

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines a hook as "a thing designed to catch people's attention." 

If I opened my article with this dictionary definition of a hook, you’d have either dozed off or left this page long back to find something more interesting. 

Here's the thing: definitions put people to sleep. Readers don't want to see a formal, jargon-heavy definition of a topic as the very first line of an essay. Your opening statement should have some personality in it to show readers they're in for an exciting read. 

For example, if you’re writing about happy hormones, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

Happy hormones are known to boost the happiness levels in your body by creating positive feelings.

Ever wondered why cat videos make you instantly happy, and ice creams give you an extra dose of energy? It's all about how happy hormones control our brain chemistry.

3. “Imagine this”

Opening your essay with "Imagine this" used to be an interesting way to put your readers in a scenario and set the context for your essay. But now, it's far too cliched and just another lazy attempt to write an essay hook. 

You can create a relatable scenario for users without asking them to imagine or picture it. Use the descriptive hook format with an interesting choice of words to convey the same ideas more creatively.

For example, if you’re writing an essay on preparing for higher studies abroad, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

Imagine this: You’ve been applying to multiple universities, writing SOPs, and preparing for exams without guidance. Everything can go south any minute. 

College application season is officially here. But with each passing day, you’re under more and more stress to apply to your chosen colleges and tick all the items off your list.

‍Our Go-To Trick for Writing Catchy Hooks

This opening statement can make or break your entire essay. While I’ve broken down my best tips to create the best essay hooks, here’s a surefire way to write compelling openings :

Go through your notes and either outline your essay or write the whole thing. This way, you’ll know the central thread (or throughline) that runs throughout your piece. 

Once your essay or outline is complete, go back through and identify a particularly compelling fact, claim, or example that relates to that central thread.

‍Write up that fact, claim, or example as the hook for your essay using any of the methods we’ve covered. Then revise or write your essay so the hook leads smoothly into the rest of the piece and you don’t repeat that information elsewhere.

Does your hook spark curiosity in you? 

Did that fact surprise you in the research stage? 

Chances are, your readers will have the same reaction.

And that’s exactly what you want.

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• Writing Tips

How to Write the Ultimate Essay Hook

4-minute read

• 6th May 2023

Never underestimate the power of an essay hook . This opening statement is meant to grab the reader’s attention and convince them to keep reading. But how do you write one that’ll pack a punch? In this article, we’ll break this down.

What Is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook is the first thing your audience will read. If it doesn’t hook them right off the bat, they might decide not to keep reading. It’s important that your opening statement is impactful while not being too wordy or presumptuous.

It’s also crucial that it clearly relates to your topic. You don’t want to mislead your readers into thinking your essay is about something it’s not. So, what kind of essay hook should you write? Here are seven ideas to choose from:

1.   Story

Everyone likes a good story. If an interesting story or anecdote relates to your essay topic, the hook is a great place to include it. For example:

The key to a good story hook is keeping it short and sweet. You’re not writing a novel in addition to an essay!

2.   Fact

Another great essay hook idea is to lay out a compelling fact or statistic. For example:

There are a few things to keep in mind when doing this. Make sure it’s relevant to your topic, accurate, and something your audience will care about. And, of course, be sure to cite your sources properly.

3.   Metaphor or Simile

If you want to get a little more creative with your essay hook, try using a metaphor or simile . A metaphor states that something is something else in a figurative sense, while a simile states that something is like something else.

Metaphors and similes are effective because they provide a visual for your readers, making them think about a concept in a different way. However, be careful not to make them too far-fetched or overly exaggerated.

4.   Question

Asking your audience a question is a great way to hook them. Not only does it make them think, but they’ll also want to keep reading because you will have sparked their curiosity. For example:

Find this useful?

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Try to avoid using questions that start with something along the lines of “Have you ever wondered…?” Instead, try to think of a question they may never have wondered about. And be sure not to answer it right away, at least not fully. Use your essay to do that!

5.   Declaration

Making a bold statement or declaring a strong opinion can immediately catch people’s attention. For example:

Regardless of whether your reader agrees with you, they’ll probably want to keep reading to find out how you will back up your claim. Just make sure your declaration isn’t too controversial, or you might scare readers away!

6.   Common Misconception

Laying out a common misconception is another useful way to hook your reader. For example:

If your readers don’t know that a common belief is actually a misconception, they’ll likely be interested in learning more. And if they are already aware, it’s probably a topic they’re interested in, so they’ll want to read more.

7.   Description

You can put your descriptive powers into action with your essay hook. Creating interesting or compelling imagery places your reader into a scene, making the words come alive.

A description can be something beautiful and appealing or emotionally charged and provoking. Either way, descriptive writing is a powerful way to immerse your audience and keep them reading.

When writing an essay, don’t skimp on the essay hook! The opening statement has the potential to convince your audience to hear what you have to say or to let them walk away. We hope our ideas have given you some inspiration.

And once you finish writing your essay, make sure to send it to our editors. We’ll check it for grammar, spelling, word choice, references, and more. Try it out for free today with a 500-word sample !

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Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay

• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

You can think of the first sentence of your essay as you would a fishing hook. It grabs your reader and allows you reel the person into your essay and your train of thought. The hook for your essay can be an interesting sentence that captures a person's attention, it can be thought-provoking, or even, entertaining.

The hook for your essay often appears in the first sentence . The opening paragraph includes a thesis sentence . Some popular hook choices can include using an interesting quote, a little-known fact, famous last words, or a statistic .

A quote hook is best used when you are composing an essay based on an author, story, or book. It helps establish your authority on the topic and by using someone else's quote, you can strengthen your thesis if the quote supports it.

The following is an example of a quote hook: "A man's errors are his portals of discovery." In the next sentence or two, give a reason for this quote or current example. As for the last sentence (the thesis) : Students grow more confident and self-sufficient when parents allow them to make mistakes and experience failure.

General statement

By setting the tone in the opening sentence with a uniquely written general statement of your thesis, the beauty is that you get right to the point. Most readers appreciate that approach.

For example, you can start with the following statement: Many studies show that the biological sleep pattern for teens shifts a few hours, which means teens naturally stay up later and feel alert later in the morning. The next sentence, set up the body of your essay, perhaps by introducing the concept that school days should be adjusted so that they are more in sync with the teenager's natural sleep or wake cycle. As for the last sentence (the thesis) :  If every school day started at ten o'clock, many students would find it easier to stay focused.

By listing a proven fact or entertaining an interesting statistic that might even sound implausible to the reader, you can excite a reader to want to know more. 

Like this hook: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics , teens and young adults experience the highest rates of violent crime. Your next sentence can set up the argument that it's dangerous for teenagers to be on the streets at late hours. A fitting thesis statement might read: Parents are justified in implementing a strict curfew, regardless of a student's academic performance.

The Right Hook for Your Essay

The good news about finding a hook? You can find a quote, fact, or another type of hook after you determine your thesis. You can accomplish this with a simple online search about your topic after you've developed your essay .

You can nearly have the essay finished before you revisit the opening paragraph. Many writers polish up the first paragraph after the essay is completed.

Outlining the Steps for Writing Your Essay

Here's an example of the steps you can follow that help you outline your essay.

• First paragraph: Establish the thesis
• Body paragraphs: Supporting evidence
• Last paragraph: Conclusion with a restatement of the thesis
• Revisit the first paragraph: Find the best hook

Obviously, the first step is to determine your thesis. You need to research your topic and know what you plan to write about. Develop a starting statement. Leave this as your first paragraph for now.

The next paragraphs become the supporting evidence for your thesis. This is where you include the statistics, opinions of experts, and anecdotal information.

Compose a closing paragraph that is basically a reiteration of your thesis statement with new assertions or conclusive findings you find during with your research.

Lastly, go back to your introductory hook paragraph. Can you use a quote, shocking fact, or paint a picture of the thesis statement using an anecdote? This is how you sink your hooks into a reader.

The best part is if you are not loving what you come up with at first, then you can play around with the introduction. Find several facts or quotes that might work for you. Try out a few different starting sentences and determine which of your choices makes the most interesting beginning to your essay.

• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• 100 Persuasive Essay Topics
• How To Write an Essay
• How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right
• How to Write a Solid Thesis Statement
• How to Structure an Essay
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• Tips on How to Write an Argumentative Essay
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
• What Is Expository Writing?
• How to Start a Book Report
• Writing a Lead or Lede to an Article
• How to Write a Response Paper

How To Write A Great Essay Hook (With Examples)

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Published: November 24, 2023

Learning the secrets behind an effective essay starts with understanding the power of a hook. Your hook is the opening statement of your introduction and ultimately acts as an invitation to your readers. It invites them to explore the ideas you’re presenting, while also engaging their attention for a long enough time to read your work.

With a great hook, you can improve your writing skills and set the stage for a masterfully written essay. But what else is a good hook able to do? And what kind of hook can you use to write an incredible essay?

This guide (complete with hook sentence examples) will help walk you through the steps of writing a hook and how to use it to boost your grades and make your work more compelling than ever!

What Is An Essay Hook?

An essay hook is the opening sentence or paragraphs of your essay and is designed to pique the curiosity of your reader while also holding their attention long enough to read the rest of your work. Think about it – would you want to read an essay if the first sentence is long-winded and boring?

Generally, writers use an effective hook to set the tone for the rest of the work and give you a quick look ‘behind the curtain’. The hook tells you exactly what the essay is about in a thoughtful and thought-provoking way that leaves you hungry for more.

For example: “ Did you know that the average person eats around five pounds of shark meat every year? In a shocking study by the Shark Lovers World Organization, it was revealed that around 4% of all fish-based products contain shark meat. ”

Of course, this isn’t true (at least, we hope not!). But it did capture your interest and make you want to find out more. That’s exactly what a hook does.

A good essay hook can keep your readers interested and helps to engage them in what you’re saying. It also leaves a lasting impression on them, which means you’ve accomplished your goal of starting a conversation about your essay topic.

Types Of Essay Hooks

With the many types of essays and writing structures you can use for your work, there are just as many hooks to suit your topic. But which ones are relevant? And which one should you use to effectively introduce your writing?

Below, we’ve listed some of the most common types of essay hooks to help you narrow down your search.

Question hook

If you start your essay with a thought-provoking question, you have a great chance of engaging your readers from the get-go. This is because a question can encourage them to actively think about what you’re saying and spark curiosity about what the real answer to the question is.

It’s important to ensure that your question is relevant and intriguing, but it’s even more important that it aligns with the theme of your essay. Usually, your readers will want to keep reading to find the answers in the body of your essay.

Quotation hook

When you open your essay with a quote from a notable person or reputable organization, you add credibility to your work. This can be particularly important when you’re discussing a topic that needs expertise to build trust.

After you use a relevant quote, you’ll also need to explain why it’s relevant to set the stage for the discussion or argument that you’re presenting.

Statistic hook

Introducing your topic with a compelling statistic or data is another great way to add credibility to your paper. It shows your reader that you’ve done your research, and you have proof to back up the claims that you may be making in the body of your essay.

It’s essential to use statistics that are accurate, though, and they should come from credible sources. Otherwise, you may be undermining your work, which could lead to losing the trust of your reader.

Anecdote hook

The last time I started an essay with an anecdote, my professor gave my work a stellar review and I got the best grades in my class .

Did we grab your attention? Good. That’s how an anecdote hook works. An anecdote is a short personal story that establishes trust with your reader and creates an emotional connection. It can also add a layer of interest to narrative or descriptive essays.

In some essays, you can write an anecdotal hook from the perspective of a fictional character. As long as it sounds like a personal experience, it should reel your readers in.

Surprising statement hook

If you can, try to capture your reader’s attention with a bold or unexpected statement. When you catch them off guard, you can stimulate their curiosity. They’re going to want to keep reading to see how you address or support your surprising statement.

You can use this type of hook in several different ways. Whether you’re challenging a common misconception, giving counterintuitive insights, or presenting intriguing facts that will wow or shock your reader, you can start your essay off on the right note.

Description hook

A description hook helps to engage readers by painting an image or setting a scene using descriptive language. Typically, it appeals to the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) and describes something in enough detail that it makes the reader feel as if they’re actually experiencing it for themselves!

This type of hook is suited for narrative or descriptive essays because it allows you to set the tone, establish a certain atmosphere, and even evoke an emotional response in your reader. In turn, the reader becomes fully immersed in the scene that you’re setting.

How To Write A Great Essay Hook

Now that you understand the basics, it’s time to put your pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) and write a hook that will draw readers in and keep them reading. If you follow the steps we’ve outlined below, you’re sure to craft a hook that will reel in your audience – hook, line, and sinker .

1. Know your audience

Knowing your audience is perhaps one of the most important things to consider when you’re writing an essay hook. Are you writing for your teachers, peers, or a broader audience? Once you know that, you can move on to understanding their motives, and values, and how their emotions will affect how impactful your hook is.

Creating a connection with your audience grabs the reader’s attention and encourages them to keep reading your essay. And, by fostering this connection, you can make them more receptive to the message you’re trying to convey.

2. Understand the purpose of your essay

Before you can write your hook, you’ll need to know what the purpose of your essay is. Generally, your essay will try to inform, persuade, or narrate your subject. Either way, narrowing down the motivation behind writing the essay will help you on your quest to write a hook that suits your writing.

Your hook should always align with the concept of your essay since it’s used to introduce the main theme or argument. You can think of it as a preview of what you’re going to talk about – it gives your readers a glimpse into the direction of your written work and sets expectations for what your essay will cover.

3. Choose the right type of hook

The type of essay hook you choose significantly impacts your essay’s style and whether it will keep your reader’s interest. You can pick from a question, quotation, anecdotal hook, or any of the others we’ve listed.

By carefully selecting what types of hook sentences will captivate your reader and establish the right tone for your essay, you’re guaranteed to have a compelling introduction. You just need to make sure that your hook suits the essay you’re writing.

For example, if you’re writing a personal story hook as an introduction to a historical essay that relies on a chronological structure, it wouldn’t be very impactful. Instead, a quotation or statistic hook may be better suited to an academic essay like this.

4. Make sure your hook is relevant

Relevance is the key to creating a compelling essay hook. The hook should always connect to the topic of your essay, and the link between the two needs to be clear from the get-go.

This does mean, however, that you need to avoid unrelated information in your hook. Keeping with the example of writing a historical essay, we can illustrate this point perfectly.

Say you’re writing an essay on World War II, and you’ve chosen a statistical hook to open your writing. Adding statistics about coffee sales during the same time period is completely irrelevant and won’t have much of an impact.

Unrelated hooks can confuse your audience and completely lose the reader’s interest. On the other hand, a focused and relevant hook can grab the reader’s attention and make your essay more exciting.

5. Spark curiosity

The way that you phrase your essay hook is just as important as the type of hook you use. Ideally, your hook should excite the reader and spark curiosity that makes them want to keep reading.

A poorly worded hook can be confusing or – let’s face it – boring! And you don’t want to bore your audience before they even get past your introduction. Whether you’re asking a question or introducing the topic for your ideas, your hook should set the stage for the rest of your essay.

You may need to use some creativity for this step. But putting yourself in the shoes of your reader can help. Ask yourself ‘What would make me want to keep reading?’. Your answer is usually a good place to start!

6. Keep it short

Although an attention-grabbing hook is ideal, it’s essential to keep it short. You should focus on using impactful language that can effectively convey your message. This is mainly because a shorter hook can keep your reader’s attention without overwhelming them with too much information.

Remember, it’s all about balance. When it comes to essay hooks, you want to strike a balance between capturing your audience’s attention and giving them a concise overview of what your essay is about.

7. Tweak the tone

The tone of your hook sets up the tone for the rest of your essay – so it’s pretty important that you align your tone with the topic. To do this, you first have to ask yourself what the tone is . Is it serious? Or perhaps you want to come across as humorous? Either way, you’ll want to maintain a consistent tone throughout.

A good example of this would be when writing a personal essay. In this case, an anecdote hook would be a great way to kick off your writing. However, if your personal story is serious, a funny anecdote isn’t necessarily the best choice. Instead, you’ll want to pick an anecdote that matches the seriousness of what you’re discussing in the body of your work.

8. Revise your hook with Smodin

After you’ve written your hook, it might still need a little nip and tuck to go from almost perfect to perfectly polished. To do this, you can use several different techniques to rewrite it.

But the easiest way to ensure that your hook is bulletproof is to use Smodin’s AI Paraphrasing tool . It can spin your words to sound like it was crafted by an expert – in a matter of seconds. It’s also a good way to avoid plagiarism and check your text to see how well it performs (the flow, tone, and relevance).

You can also use our free AI Writer to generate a unique, plagiarism-free, and professional essay in just a few prompts. This can help you draft a rough copy of your work before making any adjustments or modifications to your final product.

Catchy Hook Examples For Your Essay

With a better understanding of the types of essay hooks, and how to use them, you are well on your way to crafting an effective and attention-grabbing introduction to your writing. But, if you still need a little help with tailoring hook types to suit your writing structure, take a look at some of these examples of hooks for different types of essays:

Argumentative essay hook examples

Statistical hook: “ According to a recent study conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generate around 4.48 pounds of trash every day. This highlights the urgent need for recyclable products and packaging to address this pressing issue. ”

Question hook: “ Have you ever wondered how our experiences as children impact our daily lives and our resulting choices as adults? This critical question has prompted us to explore the topic of childhood trauma and the profound implications that it could have on our futures. ”

Persuasive essay hook examples

Statistic hook: “ Did you know that over 1.3 million tons of plastic waste are dumped into our oceans every year? This alarming statistic demands our attention and immediate action to address the pressing issue of plastic pollution. ”

Surprising statement: “ In a world that’s run by technology, it’s shocking to realize that the average person spends more time in their day scrolling through social media than sleeping. The digital age has not only revolutionized communication but has also left us questioning the true value of our time and relationships. ”

Narrative essay hook examples

Anecdotal hook: “ Raindrops tapped lightly on the window pane, and the slight rustling of the leaves seemed to whisper secrets in the wind. Little did I know that this ordinary evening would soon become an extraordinary chapter in the story of my life. It all began with a letter—an old, weathered envelope that held the key to a long-buried family mystery .”

Question hook: “ Have you ever wondered what it feels like to stand at the edge of a cliff, staring into the vast unknown below? The adrenaline coursing through your veins, the wind tousling your hair—each moment pregnant with the possibility of adventure. What if I told you that such a moment would change the course of my life forever? ”

Compare and contrast essay hook examples

Quotation hook: “ In the words of Aristotle, ‘Excellence is an art won by training and habituation’. As we delve into the realms of two seemingly disparate subjects, we must consider how their unique qualities and shared traits contribute to the pursuit of excellence in their own distinct ways. ”

Anecdote hook: “ As the sun went down, the city lit up with its busy streets, and I stood there, feeling stuck between two different places—the lively city and the peaceful countryside. In that moment, I noticed how city life and rural living are alike in some ways but also have their unique features. ”

Can I use the same type of hook for different essays?

While some hooks are versatile, it’s best to tailor your hook to the specific essay you’re writing and the topic you’re covering. You’ll need to consider the audience, purpose, and nature of your writing before choosing a hook.

Can I use a combination of different types of hooks in one essay?

Yes, you can experiment with combining different types of essay hooks in your writing, especially if your topic allows for different approaches. However, you should always make sure to include a smooth transition between the hooks and keep them simple. Otherwise, you risk confusing your reader.

Writing catchy hooks is more than just finding something clever to say at the opening of your essay. It’s about leaving an impression on your reader that will carry through the body of your work and leave them hanging on every word you say. Ultimately, your hook can make or break your essay.

With Smodin, coming up with, writing, and revising your hook is as simple as one, two, three. So why not try out our tools to streamline your writing process? There’s nothing to lose – and everything to gain!

How To Write An Essay

Hook Examples

200+ Creative Hook Examples: Ready, Set, Hook

27 min read

Published on: Mar 22, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 30, 2024

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As a student, you know how important it is to grab your reader’s attention right away. 

Stories without strong starts can leave readers feeling uninspired and bored—and that's not what we want! After all, compelling stories require creative hooks to seal the deal. 

That's why we're here!

To avoid a bland start, it's important to craft a clever and memorable hook. With the use of effective hooks, you can leave a lasting impression on even the most discerning of readers.

Join us now as we jump into different types of hooks, from intriguing questions to vivid imagery – let's get started!

On This Page On This Page -->

Question Hook Examples

If you're stuck in the creative hook-writing process, a question hook can be your go-to. 

Questions hook readers and make them think about what’s being asked. You can also use a fact statistic too.

They also immediately draw attention to the topic at hand and make readers more likely to continue reading. 

 Let's look at some examples : 

• "What if I told you that a single dream could change your life?" 
• "Who can inhabit a place where the past and the present intersect?" 
• "How would you respond if you had to choose between love and ambition?" 
• "Where does one draw the line between passion and obsession?" 
• "Can humanity survive in a world of conflicting values?" 
• "What if our dreams became reality?" - John Steinbeck 
• "How do you explain something that cannot be explained?" 
• "Is it possible to find true love in an imperfect world?"
• "Do we control our destiny, or does fate have a hand in it?" 
• "How much can power corrupts us before we become monsters?"

Statistic Hook Examples

Numbers don't lie, and sometimes they can be the most powerful way to make a point. 

Here are some examples of statistic hooks that can grab your readers' attention:

• "Did you know that over 50% of adults in the United States are single?"
• "According to recent studies, over 70% of high school students report feeling overwhelmed and stressed on a daily basis."
• "In the United States, the average household debt is over $90,000."
• "Over 80% of Americans believe that climate change is a serious problem, but what are we doing to address it?"
• "According to recent polls, only 20% of Americans trust the government to do what is right always or most of the time."
• "In the last decade, the use of social media has skyrocketed, with over 3 billion users worldwide."
• "Studies show that women still earn only 82 cents for every dollar earned by men in the United States."
• "Over 40% of food produced in the United States is wasted each year, while millions of people go hungry."
• "Recent research has found that over 90% of plastic waste in the ocean comes from just 10 rivers in Asia and Africa."
• "Despite advances in medical technology, the United States has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the developed world, with over 700 deaths per year."

Metaphor / Simile Hook Examples

Metaphors and similes can be powerful tools for engaging your reader and making your writing more vivid. 

Here are ten examples to inspire your own metaphorical hooks.

• "Like a beacon in the night, [topic] shines a light on our deepest hopes and fears."
• "Metaphorically speaking, [topic] is a Pandora's box of complex emotions and ideas that challenge us to confront our own biases and assumptions."
• "Just as a ship navigates treacherous waters, [topic] requires a steady hand and a clear sense of direction to navigate successfully."
• "In many ways, [topic] is a mirror that reflects the beauty and complexity of the human experience."
• "Like a puzzle with countless pieces, [topic] invites us to piece together disparate elements to uncover deeper truths and insights."
• "Metaphorically speaking, [topic] is a garden that requires careful tending and nurturing to flourish."
• "Just as a painter uses color and light to create a masterpiece, [topic] allows us to paint a vivid portrait of the world around us."
• "In many ways, [topic] is a labyrinth that challenges us to explore its winding paths and discover hidden treasures along the way."
• "Like a key that unlocks a door, [topic] gives us access to new worlds of knowledge and understanding."
• "Metaphorically speaking, [topic] is a journey that takes us on a winding path through the highs and lows of the human experience."

Anecdote Hook Examples

If you want to hook your readers from the start with a narrative that's more fun and lighthearted, an anecdote hook is a way to go.  

Let's look at some examples: 

• "It all started when I decided to take a walk in the woods one summer day..." 
• "The night began as any other night out with my friends - until the police showed up..."
• "The day I found out my grandmother had cancer was one of the saddest days of my life" 
• "It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when I decided to take a chance and go for a drive on an unfamiliar road" 
• "I never expected that one day I'd be standing in the World Cup final..."
• "It was summertime, and all my friends were out at the beach while I was stuck inside baking cookies" 
• "I remember the day I finally decided to take a leap of faith and start my own business" 
• "My first day at university was filled with anxiety and excitement" 
• "That's when I realized I wanted to be a teacher - when I saw the look on my student's faces after they finally understood something"
• "My first time walking into a yoga class was nerve-wracking, but it ended up being one of the best decisions of my life" 

Quote Hook Examples

If you want to hook your readers right away with a strong introduction, using a quote hook can be an effective strategy.  

Let's look at some examples of a quote from a famous person. 

• "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" - Oscar Wilde 
• "To infinity and beyond!" - Buzz Lightyear 
• "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky 
• "If you can dream it, you can do it" - Walt Disney 
• "It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" - J.K. Rowling 
• "You can't calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself" - Tim Berners-Lee 
•  "The only way to do great work is to love what you do" - Steve Jobs 
• "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Lao Tzu 
• "Life is what you make it" - Anonymous 
• "The best way to predict the future is to create it" - Abraham Lincoln 

Story Hook Examples

If your main goal is to fully captivate and engage readers in an unforgettable story, then a well-crafted story hook is the way to go.

• "It all started on a cold January night with a phone call that changed my life..." 
• "The moment I saw my best friend in that hospital bed, I knew everything would never be the same again..." 
• "I had been dreaming of this day for years - the day I'd finally get to explore the world outside of my small town..." 
• "The sun was just setting as we drove through the old neighborhood, remembering all the good times we had growing up..." 
• "I opened my front door to find a man standing in the hallway with a strange package - and that's how it all began..." 
• "The morning of my eighteenth birthday, I woke up feeling strangely different - like an adventure was about to begin..." 
• "I remember the day I decided to face my fears and take a leap of faith - that's when everything changed..." 
• "The night I saw the shooting stars were like nothing I had ever experienced before, and I knew it would stay with me forever..." 
• "It took one coincidence for me to realize that life was about to take me on a wild ride..." 
• "I had never felt so brave in my life when I decided to take a stand and fight for what I believed in..." 

Hook Examples For Essay

If you desire to seize your reader's attention and keep them enthralled in your essay, a persuasive hook is essential.

Check out these hooks for essays examples: 

• "The world we live in today has changed drastically since the introduction of technology" 
• "Every generation has had its own unique set of challenges - and the current generation is no exception" 
• "We can learn a lot from history and the mistakes that have been made in the past" 
• "Society often puts a label on things without really understanding them or giving them a chance" 
• "The power of technology can be both a blessing and a curse" 
• "Education is the key to success - and it's important for everyone to have access to it" 
• "What would life be like without our modern-day conveniences?" 
• "We all have our own unique perspectives, but sometimes we forget to look at the bigger picture" 
• "Not everything is as it seems - sometimes we have to dig deeper to understand the truth" 
• "Life is a journey, not a destination - and every step of the way holds valuable lessons to be learned"

Narrative Hook Examples

Narrative hook examples are a great way to engage your reader in your story. Here are some examples of hooks for a narrative essay :

• "It was a dark and stormy night, and I heard something outside my window..." 
• "I had been waiting for this moment my whole life, and finally it was here..." 
• "I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I opened that door..." 
• "The air around me suddenly changed, and a chill ran down my spine as I realized how alone I was..." 
• "It had been years since we'd seen each other, and now I was standing face to face with my old enemy..." 
• "I followed the faint light until I stumbled upon a mysterious room with an unknown secret inside..." 
• "It began as a normal day, but by nightfall, it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before..." 
• "The cold wind was howling as I made my way across the deserted desert, searching for something greater..." 
• "As I stepped through the ruins of the long-abandoned castle, I could feel an eerie presence watching me..." 
• "The clock struck midnight and suddenly everything changed - it felt like a new world had been born..." 

Argumentative Essay Hook Examples

Argumentative hook examples can be a great tool to draw readers in and engage them with an argumentative essay . 

Let's look at some hook examples for argumentative essay: 

• "The world we live in today is drastically different from what it used to be - and much of this change has been caused by technology"
• "Every generation has its own set of challenges, and the current generation is no exception" 
• "We should always be willing to learn from history and the mistakes that have been made in the past" 
• "Society often judges things without really understanding them or giving them a chance" 
• "The power of technology can be both a blessing and a curse - we must find the balance" 
• "Education is essential to success, but not everyone has access to it" 
• "We all have our own unique perspectives, but we must consider the greater good" 
• "Sometimes things are not as they seem - it's important to look at all sides of an issue" 
• "Life is full of lessons - and it's impossible to learn them all in one lifetime" 

College Essay Hook Examples

Crafting an effective hook for a college essay is essential to grab your reader's attention and draw them into the story. 

College hook examples can serve as invaluable guides when creating this crucial element of any composition.

Check out some examples: 

• "The journey of life has taken me down many paths, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would lead me here" 
• "My story is not a traditional one, but it's uniquely mine and I'm ready to make my mark" 
• "When I think back to the decisions that have shaped my life, this one stands out as the most important" 
• "I had no idea how much I could learn from taking a leap of faith and going outside my comfort zone" 
• "From the age of four, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor - and here I am on the brink of making it happen" 
• "I wasn't always the most successful student, but I never gave up and now I'm ready to prove what I can do" 
• "A person's future isn't predetermined - I'm determined to make mine a success" 
• "Education is power, and I'm ready to take hold of my own destiny" 
• "It's not about where you come from, but what you can achieve with hard work and dedication"  
• "Life is unpredictable, but I'm ready to face any challenge that comes my way" 

Hook Examples For Speech

Speech hook examples provide a great way to hook your audience into your speech . 

Here are some examples: 

• "We've all heard the phrase 'knowledge is power', but what does that really mean?" 
• "What would our lives be like if we weren't as connected to technology as we are today?" 
• "The world is a vast and mysterious place - let's explore how different cultures live and think" 
• "What can we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors? Let's find out!" 
• "We've heard about climate change, but what can we actually do to help?" 
• "We live in a world of opportunity - let's explore how we can make the most of it" 
• "Everyone has a story to tell - let's discover what makes us unique and wonderful" 
• "Hard work and dedication are key ingredients for success - let's learn how to make the most of them" 
• "Let's talk about what it means to make a difference in our world, and how we can do it!" 
• "We all have the potential to reach our goals - let's find out how!" 

Hook Examples For Expository Essays

An expository essay provides a great way to engage your reader in your writing. Here are some examples:

• "We often take for granted the little things in life - let's explore why they are so important." 
• "What lies beneath the surface of our world? Let's look deeper and find out!" 
• "Our environment is rapidly changing - let's see what we can do to protect it." 
• "What causes people to make bad decisions? Let's explore the psychology behind it." 
• "Without laws, society would be chaos - let's look at how laws keep us safe." 
• "What can we learn from history? Let's uncover the lessons of our past." 
• "Fear is an inevitable part of life - let's examine how to conquer it." 
• "Our minds are incredibly powerful - let's explore the potential of our thoughts." 
• "Life can be unpredictable, but how do we handle it? Let's discover some strategies." 
• "What is the meaning of success? Let's define it and work towards achieving it!"?

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Hook Examples For Compare And Contrast Essay 

When writing a compare and contrast essay, it's important to have strong hooks.

Here are some examples of hooks that you can use for your compare-and-contrast essay :

• "They say that 'opposites attract,' but do they really?"
• "If you think two things can't be more different, think again."
• "You might be surprised to learn that two seemingly similar things can have vast differences."
• "Have you ever wondered what makes two things that seem identical actually very different?"
• "There are many similarities between X and Y, but there are also key differences that make them stand out."
• "Are you struggling to choose between two options that seem equally appealing?"
• "At first glance, it may seem like two things have nothing in common."
• "They say that variety is the spice of life, but is it always better?"
• "It's easy to get lost in the details, but sometimes all we need is a little comparison to see things clearly."
• "They say that everything is relative, but is that really true?"

Hook Examples For Research Papers

Crafting an effective research hook can be a powerful way to draw your readers into the world of your paper. 

Examples can provide excellent guidance when crafting this important part of any academic work!

Let's look at some hook examples in writing that can help you with your research paper : 

• "Many people believe that X is the answer, but what does the research say?" 
• "We've all heard about Y, but how does it actually work?" 
• "What can we learn from the mistakes of the past and how can we use that knowledge to move forward?" 
• "How has technology changed the way we do research and what ethical considerations do we need to take into account?" 
• "What are some of the implications of Z and what can we do to address them?" 
• "The debate around A is growing - let's explore both sides and see where the research takes us" 
• "We all have our own opinions on B, but what does the evidence tell us?" 
• "Let's take a look at C and uncover what it really means" 
• "What can we learn from examining the history of D and how can that help us in the present?" 
• "There are many theories surrounding E - let's explore them and draw our own conclusions" 

Hook Examples For Literary Analysis

Literary hook examples provide a great way to hook your readers into a literary analysis essay . 

Let's look at some examples of a great hook sentence here!

• "What secrets do the characters in this story hold and what truths can we uncover?" 
• "What does this piece of literature tell us about the human condition?" 
• "What themes can we uncover by examining this text through a feminist lens?" 
• "What is the author trying to say about society and how can we interpret it?" 
• "How does this story stand out from others in its genre and what makes it unique?" 
• "Let's explore the symbolism and imagery used in this piece of literature" 
• "What message is the author trying to convey and how can that help us better understand the world we live in?" 
• "The setting of this story plays an important role - let's examine it more closely" 
• "How does the use of language in this text help to convey its themes and ideas?" 
• "What can we learn about human nature by analyzing the characters in this story?" 

Paragraph Hook Examples 

Writing can be challenging, especially when it comes to crafting engaging openings. Here are ten hook ideas that might inspire your next paragraph:

• "We all have our guilty pleasures, whether it's binge-watching reality TV or devouring junk food."
• "Technology has transformed every aspect of our lives, from how we work and communicate to how we entertain ourselves."
• "History is full of fascinating stories and characters. Let's shine a light on the forgotten voices of the past."
• "Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, but what can we do to address it?"
• "Language is a powerful tool for communication, but it can also be a source of confusion and misunderstanding."
• "The human brain is a mysterious and complex organ, capable of incredible feats of creativity and intelligence. Let's delve into the latest research on how our brains work."
• "Art has the power to inspire, challenge, and transform us. But what is it about certain works of art that make them timeless and universal?"
• "Identity is a complex and multifaceted concept, shaped by factors like race, gender, sexuality, and class."
• "Philosophy has been a source of inquiry and debate for centuries, but how can it help us navigate the complexities of modern life?"
• "Food is not just a source of sustenance, but a reflection of culture, history, and identity."

Query Letter Hook Examples

Query letter hook examples are a great way to engage your potential readers and agents. 

• "This story will make you question everything you thought you knew." 
• "Uncover an extraordinary tale of courage and determination." 
• "Discover the power of hope in this heartfelt journey of transformation." 
• "Follow a gripping story of passion and adventure." 
• "Journey with a character on a quest to find the truth." 
• "Experience an unforgettable tale of mystery and intrigue." 
• "Meet a remarkable cast of characters in this stirring journey of discovery." 
• "Go behind the scenes with a daring group of heroes." 
• "Explore a world of mystery and wonder with a captivating story." 
• "Be swept away in this thrilling adventure of courage and hope."  ? 

Hook Examples For Presentation

Presentation hooks are a remarkable way to captivate your audience and keep them engaged in your presentation. You can use interesting facts and statistic hooks as well!

With examples, you can create compelling stories or images that will make quite an impact!

• "We all know that X is important, but why is it so crucial to our lives?" 
• "What can we learn from the successes and failures of Y?" 
• "Let's explore how technology has changed the way we do Z and how that affects our lives" 
• "What is the one thing we need to know about A in order to understand its significance?" 
• "We've all heard about B, but what does it really mean for us?" 
• "What are the implications of C and how can we use that knowledge to our advantage?" 
• "Let's take a look at the history and evolution of D" 
• "How does E affect our daily lives and what can we do about it?" 
• "What are some of the potential benefits of F and what risks do we need to consider?" 
• "What has been the impact of G on our society and how can we use it to make positive changes?" 

Hook Examples For Introduction 

Introduction hook examples provide a great way to make a strong statement. 

• "Welcome to the world of X - let's dive in and see what it has to offer" 
• "We all know Y, but why is it so important?" 
• "What can we learn from the successes and failures of Z?" 
• "Let's take a journey through the history of A and uncover its secrets" 
• "How has technology changed the way we do C and what ethical considerations do we need to take into account?" 
• "What are some of the implications of D and what can we do to address them?" 
• "The debate around E is growing - let's explore both sides and see where the research takes us" 
• "Let's examine the facts and uncover what F really means" 
• "What can we learn from exploring the history of G and how can that help us in the present?" 

Concluding Hook Examples 

Writing a strong conclusion can be just as challenging as crafting an engaging opening. Here are closing hook examples that might help inspire you.

• "As we bring this discussion to a close, it's clear that [thesis statement]. But what are the implications of this insight for our lives and society as a whole?"
• "In the end, the examples we've explored illustrate the complexity and nuance of [topic]. But what does this mean for us moving forward?"
• "The evidence we've presented highlights the urgent need for [action or change]. So where do we go from here?"
• "As we wrap up this conversation, let's remember that [key takeaway or lesson]. How can we apply this insight to our own lives?"
• "The stories and characters we've examined offer a window into the human experience and our capacity for growth and transformation. What can we learn from their journeys?"
• "As we conclude this discussion, let's reflect on what this means for us as individuals and as a society."
• "The examples we've explored have shed light on the complexities and nuances of [topic]. But what are the broader implications of this understanding?"
• "As we come to the end of this essay, it's clear that [thesis statement]. But how can we use this knowledge to make a positive difference in the world?"
• "In conclusion, the evidence we've presented challenges us to rethink our assumptions about [topic]. Let's take this opportunity to broaden our perspectives and deepen our understanding."
• "As we close out this conversation, let's remember the power of human connection to heal and transform."

Hook Examples For Personal Statement

Crafting an attention-grabbing hook for your personal statement can be a great way to increase engagement and draw readers in. 

Utilizing examples of successful hooks is an excellent strategy to help you create one that stands out!

• "How have my experience and values shaped who I am today?" 
• "What makes me unique from other applicants and how can that help me succeed?" 
• "How have my past experiences, both good and bad, helped me understand the importance of X?" 
• "What do I know about Y that makes me stand out from other applicants?" 
• "Let's explore how my skillset can help me achieve success in Z" 
• "What have I learned from the people around me and how has that shaped my goals?" 
• "In what ways can I use my knowledge of A to make a difference?" 
• "How will B help me grow as an individual and achieve my dreams?" 
• "What have I learned through C that has helped me become a better person?" 
• "What can I offer that makes me the ideal candidate for this role?" 

Catchy Hook Examples

Captivating hook examples are an excellent way to grab your readers' attention and entice them into the content.

• "Are you ready for X? It's time to find out!" 
• "Discover the shocking truth about Y" 
• "Let's uncover the hidden secrets of Z" 
• "Unlock the power of A - it will blow your mind" 
• "B will change your life - here's how to get started" 
• "What does C mean for us? Let's find out!" 
• "Are you ready to take on the challenge of D?" 
• "Can E really change your life? Let's find out" 
• "F can provide incredible opportunities - here's how to get started" 
• "Discover the hidden potential of G - it will amaze you!" 

Hook Examples For Romeo and Juliet Essays

Romeo and Juliet is one of the most iconic love stories in literary history. But what is it about this tragic tale that continues to captivate audiences centuries after it was written? 

Here are some hook ideas that might inspire your essay:

• "What makes Romeo and Juliet one of the most enduring love stories of all time? Let's explore the themes and motifs that continue to captivate audiences today."
• "From sword fights to sonnets, Romeo and Juliet has it all. But what is it about Shakespeare's language and imagery that makes the play so memorable?"
• "Romeo and Juliet may seem like a straightforward story of love and tragedy, but what if there's more to it than meets the eye?"
• "The feud between the Capulets and Montagues may seem like a typical Shakespearean conflict. But what does it reveal about the tensions and rivalries of Renaissance-era Italy?"
• "What can Romeo and Juliet teach us about the power of passion and desire? Let's explore how the play challenges conventional morality and ethics."
• "Romeo and Juliet has been adapted countless times in popular culture, but what can we learn from the original play? Let's examine how Shakespeare's work continues to influence modern storytelling."
• "The tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet may seem predetermined, but what if the characters had made different choices? Let's explore the different paths the story could have taken."
• "Romeo and Juliet is often seen as a story of youthful passion, but what about the older characters in the play? Let's analyze the roles of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse in shaping the course of events."
• "Shakespeare's play may be set in Renaissance-era Italy, but its themes and motifs are universal. Let's examine how Romeo and Juliet speaks to contemporary issues and debates."
• "The balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet is one of the most iconic moments in all of literature, but what is it about this scene that makes it so powerful? Let's explore the language, imagery, and symbolism at play."

Hook Examples For Social Media 

Social media has become a ubiquitous part of modern life, with billions of users around the world. But what is it about social media that has captured our attention and kept us hooked?

Here are some social media hook examples for you:

• "Social media is like a never-ending rabbit hole, with endless scrolling and new content to explore."
• "With social media, we have the power to connect with people from all over the world, but at what cost to our privacy and mental health?"
• "The rise of social media has transformed the way we communicate, but it has also created a new set of challenges for individuals and society as a whole."
• "From Instagram influencers to TikTok trends, social media has given rise to a whole new world of digital fame and fortune."
• "In the age of social media, we are more connected than ever before, but are we really communicating?"
• "What happens when the platform becomes a battleground for toxic behavior and hate speech?"
• "From Facebook to Twitter, social media has revolutionized the way we consume news and information."
• "Social media has made it easier than ever to connect with people who share our interests and passions."
• "With social media, we can curate the perfect image of ourselves and our lives. But is this curated image an accurate reflection of who we really are?"
• "Social media has opened up new opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs."

Tips for Writing A Good Hook  

A hook is the first sentence or phrase in your writing that captures your reader's attention. 

A good hook is essential for any successful piece of writing, whether it's a novel, an essay, or a blog post. 

Here are some tips for writing a good hook that will engage your readers and keep them interested:

• Start with an interesting fact or statistic: People love to learn new things. Starting with a surprising or little-known fact can be a great way to capture your reader's attention.
• Ask a thought-provoking question: Asking a question that challenges your reader's assumptions or beliefs can be a powerful way to hook them to thinking.
• Use descriptive language: Descriptive language can create a vivid picture in your reader's mind and draw them into your story or argument.
• Create a sense of urgency: If your writing is about a timely or important topic, creating a sense of urgency in your hook can be an effective way to grab your reader's attention.
• Start with a quote: A quote from a famous person or an expert in your field can lend credibility to your writing and pique your reader's interest.
• Share a personal anecdote: Sharing a personal story or experience can make your writing feel more relatable and human, and can help to build a connection with your reader.

Writing a hook for your essay can be a challenge, but with the right approach, you can create one that will capture your reader's attention. 

If you're looking for some guidance to help you craft the perfect hook, CollegeEssay.org offers the best essay writing service to help you!

Stop wasting your time trying to craft the perfect hook and let CollegeEssay.org take care of it for you! 

Enhance your writing skills by utilizing our essay writer AI . Take advantage of this valuable resource to improve your writing abilities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a hook example.

A hook example refers to an opening sentence of a piece of writing that is meant to grab the reader's attention and entice them to continue reading. 

Good hooks may use descriptive words, strong verbs, vivid imagery, or engaging dialogue to draw readers in.

How can I come up with a good hook?

Coming up with a good hook requires that you know your audience and the purpose of your writing.

Consider what interests readers in this particular topic or area.Use that to create an engaging opening sentence that will pique their curiosity.

Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)

Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

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Home » 8 IDEAS ON HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT CULTURE

8 IDEAS ON HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT CULTURE

Posted By Firdaus on Dec 29, 2020 | 0 comments

W riting an essay is like telling a story or expressing your ideas on a certain topic. So what happens when it is related to culture, the way of life of a people? That is definitely the idea on what a cultural essay looks like. Have you ever been given an essay that relates to culture? What are those ideas that can help you write a perfect culture essay? These are some of the questions we intend to address in the article. Let us get an understanding of the background term “culture”.

Culture can simply be defined as the characteristic of a group of people which is defined by certain factors such as religion, dressing, language, lifestyle etc. Culture differs in the world from place to place and there are similarities that exist between the cultures of different groups of people. Different things such as foods, clothing, and marriage bring about these differences.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A CULTURE

1) culture is shared.

Culture is something that is shared among people. There is this general trend of people carrying the culture of another. This means culture can be passed through different tribes, regions, and countries. The process of sharing the culture of another place, people or group is called “enculturation”. Language for example is a typical example; it’s a process of communication among different people and can be transferred in scenarios such as group discussions, public speaking or informal communication.

2) Culture is learnt

Some culture is inherited, while we learn others. Eating, dressing are common cultural norms that people learn and adopt. Small children and babies learn about the culture of their families by watching and learning from their parents or older ones. So in our daily lives, we see and get interested in learning other people’s culture.

3) It is continuous

Culture is a continuous process; it keeps on growing and existing. It is also adaptive to change i.e. past and present history affects culture.

4) Culture varies

The elements that make up culture definitely vary from place to place. Language, dressing, eating, speaking are elements that differ in different places.

TYPES OF CULTURE

There are different types of culture which includes:

1) Material culture

Material culture refers to things that people create and give meaning to it

2) Dressing

Dressing cannot be ignored when it comes to culture. It is the identity of a particular person. Dressing particularly differentiates a person from another.

3) Language

Language is one of the most popular forms of material culture. No language means there is no concept for culture. Different cultures speak different languages. Even if an area or group of people speaks the same language, there may still be some cultural differences between them. Language is the first element of culture we learn right from birth before other elements like dressing, food etc. So this highlights the importance of language to culture.

4) Religion

Religion is another important aspect of culture; religion cuts across all aspects of the society because it has to do with the beliefs of people about the supernatural existence of a being. We have Christianity, Islam, African traditional religions, Buddhism etc. These different religions are associated with different people and some are commonly practiced in different regions than others. Religion is a cultural identity.

WHAT IS A CULTURAL ESSAY? 

Writing a cultural essay may be one of the things that would make most college students buy research papers online because they do not understand the concept of a cultural essay. What is a cultural essay? This is the big question we need to answer before we even talk about how we can write it and good ideas that will give us the best cultural essays.

A cultural essay is simply an essay that has “culture” as its main theme. It could be narrative, descriptive, and expository. A narrative cultural essay can be an author’s personal experience about another culture i.e. writing about the culture of another place you visited.

A descriptive cultural essay can be one in which you write about the culture of a people you find fascinating or interesting. E.g A descriptive essay about ancient Egypt.

A cultural essay could also be an expository where you present facts and information based on your cultural research. You could also persuade a reader to accept your point of view about a particular cultural related concept or cultural practice in a particular place.

STRUCTURE OF A CULTURAL ESSAY

The structure of a cultural identity essay basically comprises three main sections i) Introduction ii) Body paragraph iii) conclusion. Just like other essays, the writer should be able to address a specific issue based on the subject matter he/she is discussing.

1) Introduction

Introduction is the first paragraph of a cultural essay. Introduction presents the opportunity to introduce your topic to the readers. Also it requires brief background information about the cultural identity you are writing on. It should also contain your thesis statement.

The body of your cultural essay takes the largest part and is an important part of your essay. In cultural essays, different paragraphs are used to address and explain important aspects of a cultural identity. The topic plays a major role in determining how many paragraphs will make up your essay. Ensure that there is a logical flow of ideas and concepts explained from one paragraph to the other.

3) Conclusion

Conclusion is the last part of your cultural essay where you restate your thesis statement and summarize your main points contained in your body paragraphs. Closing statements about your topic can also be made in the conclusion.

IDEAS ON HOW TO WRITE A PERFECT CULTURAL ESSAY

After the general knowledge about what a culture, the concepts of a cultural essay, its structure and outline. Let us discuss the best ideas that can help you get that perfect cultural essay written if you don’t wish to hire a writer from wiseessays.com .

1) Know where to focus

The term culture is a very broad topic, so you must know which aspect of culture you intend writing on. Language, religion, dressing, food are different elements that make up culture. So decide on what your topic is going to focus on.

2) Carry out intensive research

It is very important to do extensive research especially when you are writing about the culture of another region or place you aren’t familiar with. Go online, read books and bring out facts that concern them. This will give you enough materials to work with.

3) Brainstorm

Brainstorming is important in order to reflect the experiences you had that would provide readers with a clear picture of their cultural identity.

4) Show but don’t give details

In accomplishing your objectives tell the readers about what they would want to know but don’t give details except in your body paragraphs. That means your introduction should be clear and interesting.

5) Transitions can help

Making use of transitions such as “additionally, “thus”, “therefore” can help enhance a natural and logical flow among your paragraphs and throughout your essay.

6) Remain personal

Make use of the first person pronoun “I” in describing your experiences throughout your essay.

7 ) Don’t discriminate

When writing a cultural essay avoid giving your readers a discriminating tone about other cultures. Even if you don’t understand the reasons for some behaviors or norms, do not criticize them but rather ensure you give your readers a better understanding and let them know the important differences between cultures.

8) Proofread, revise and edit

Finally you need to proofread your written essay to check and eliminate spelling and grammatical mistakes.

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Author: Firdaus

I work as an IT consultant in the Toronto area and I love to write blogs about a variety of subjects. My passion for writing stems from the desire that everyone should have access to meaningful information. Whether it is a blog about society, culture, technology, or social media, I don’t want to miss the opportunity of sharing my thoughts with my friends and audience. Since I believe in mutual exchange of ideas, I am always on the lookout for a feedback on my writings.

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Essays About Culture Shock: Top 5 Examples and 7 Prompts

Writing essays about culture shock promotes awareness, improves character, and fosters meaningful interactions; reading our top examples and prompts to get started.

Two things stood out when I visited Thailand: the beautiful tourist destinations and the country’s food. I enjoyed the meals and snacks, especially  Roti Sai Mai . It’s a sweet candy floss rolled into a salted roti sheet. My peers, however, liked eating Nhon Mhai or silkworms sprinkled with pepper and soy. I knew the country had exotic foods, but it still shocked me. 

Culture shock happens when one is unfamiliar with the environment and culture of a place they’re visiting. People who usually experience this are international students, migrant families, and first-time travelers like myself. An effective way to promote awareness of its  symptoms and stages  is through writing essays about the subject.

5 Essay Examples

• 1. What Is the Culture Shock? By Anonymous on EduBirdie.Com
• 2. Long Essay on Culture Shock by Prasanna
• 3. Cultural Shock and Adaptation by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com
• 4. Culture Shock — What Is It by Anonymous on IntervarsityChicago.Org
• 5. My Experience of Culture Shock in the United States by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

1. Culture Shock: Defined

2. symptoms of culture shock, 3. the phases of culture shock, 4. how to overcome culture shock, 5. factors and effects of culture shock, 6. is culture shock normal, 7. my personal experience of culture shock, 1. what is the culture shock  by anonymous on edubirdie.com.

“Culture shock is the result of national culture. Everyone has a culture which he or she grows, works, and lives. Because of that difference, people are having trouble to adapt new culture.”

In this essay, the author uses students studying abroad as an example to explain culture shock. They mention that culture shock is inevitable even if students prepare themselves for the problems they may face when moving to another country. As a result, students become unfocused and stressed and develop psychological problems.

According to the writer, culture shock is an insurmountable problem, but there are ways to reduce its impact, especially on students. It includes orientation programs from universities, research about the new culture they will encounter, and human interaction. You might be interested in these essays about city life .

2. Long Essay on Culture Shock  by Prasanna

“Traveling to a foreign country is one of the best ways to step outside your monotonous life. The fear of facing unfamiliar situations holds many people from stepping out of their comfort zone. When you reach a new country, you will have the opportunity to see and experience things that you were longing for, have fun and enjoy the atmosphere that you can’t do in your home country.”

Prasanna describes culture shock’s many benefits that significantly improve one’s life. For example, it assists in breaking routines so one can adapt to others’ customs. It leads to individuals being more flexible and expanding their horizons. 

Culture shock also helps build self-confidence and overcome challenges. People make new friends and create new experiences by exposing themselves to unfamiliar cultures, places, and groups. The new knowledge about a foreign place dramatically influences one’s personality and promotes self-growth. Ultimately, Prasanna believes that culture shock is difficult at first, but one becomes comfortable with the changes around them as the day goes by.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about globalization .

3. Cultural Shock and Adaptation  by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

“… The differences of how people live, their beliefs, values are rather obvious. We not only find no evidence of convergence – we actually find that the gap between the value system of rich and poor countries have been growing, not shrinking, during the past 20 years.”

This essay contains various quotes from people knowledgeable about culture shock, such as Michael Minkov, the author of  “Cultural Differences in a Globalizing World.”  The writer says that traveling abroad is more than just enjoying the sights, festivities, and food. It’s about learning and understanding how its people live — the travelers’ difficulties in understanding these lead to culture shock. Since this is a broad and sensitive topic, the author believes that people should learn about the culture and its differences to know its causes and develop effective methods to overcome them.

4. Culture Shock — What Is It  by Anonymous on IntervarsityChicago.Org

“Culture Shock is the disorientation and change that is experienced after an international relocation… You will feel as if you are in the wrong place; everything will appear abnormal and you will often find things hard to comprehend.”

The author defines culture shock as mental confusion brought on by moving to a foreign country, locale, school, and workplace. Various factors contribute to culture shock, and its effects differ from one person to another. For students and employees, culture shock makes them unproductive and tired. 

The essay further explains that the usual cause of culture shock is homesickness. People feel various indicators like insomnia, anger issues, irritation, and many others. Their advice to readers dealing with culture shock is to look for its causes to handle it properly to avoid adverse effects. You might also be interested in these essays about culture shock .

5. My Experience of Culture Shock in the United States  by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

“Many of the customs of the new culture may seem odd or uncomfortably different from those of your home country. Being in a new and unfamiliar place can be challenging even for the experienced traveler, and it is normal to feel frustrated and isolated.”

Being from Kazakhstan and using a Hollywood movie as a basis for American life, the author has no idea that pursuing their dream of living in The Land of the Free will give them culture shock. The writer discusses three significant differences between their home country and America.

First, compared to their native land, where people only befriend those they trust, Americans are approachable and make easy friends with strangers. Second, privacy and personal space are nonexistent in America. Lastly, Americans’ ideas of equality spill into how they talk and dress.

7 Prompts for Essays About Culture Shock

Use this prompt to discuss culture shock by talking about its literal meaning, experts’ views, and your idea of it. Then, pick what’s consistent across these varying explanations to create a comprehensive definition of culture shock. Add relevant citations from reliable sources to strengthen your statements and make the essay more informative. 

If you find this topic complex, simplify it and write a five-paragraph essay instead.

Some common symptoms of culture shock are feeling isolated, bored, and irritated. However, it differs in the stage, cause, or degree of culture shock a person has. For this prompt, briefly discuss the definition of culture shock and then identify its symptoms. Expound on each stage’s indicators and how long a person typically goes through these symptoms. The essay must also explain how these signs differ from one individual to another.

There are  four stages of culture shock : honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance. Explain each stage and focus on what causes an individual to transition from one phase to the next. Add how long each stage lasts and what feelings are involved. Include examples so readers can better understand each stage.

Certain situations do not allow an individual to return to a familiar environment to get rid of culture shock. In this prompt, center your essay on ways to help people cope with culture shock. Search for effective ways to adapt to the changes, such as developing new hobbies and making friends in the new place. 

Climate, language, social roles, values, and unspoken rules are some factors that contribute to culture shock. For this prompt, briefly explain culture shock and list its common causes to help the reader verify if they’re experiencing this phenomenon. Then, discuss how these factors lead to culture shock by offering examples and include some of its positive and negative effects.

To write this prompt, you need to find reliable references such as demographic statistics to determine the number of people experiencing culture shock worldwide. After gathering data, analyze and discuss your findings. 

Remember to answer the question prompt and summarize your conclusions at the end of your essay. Here’s an example statement: Based on research , 85% of international students experience culture shock, and their top problem is adjusting to the country’s language.

Share a story of your travel or move to another location where you experienced culture shock. Write about the reason for your transfer and describe where you came from versus where you moved to. Include how long you stayed in the place and what culture shock symptoms you felt. Add how this experience affected you and your expectations whenever you visit a new location. If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

50+ Hook Examples: The Opening Lines That Make Your Essay Successful

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

Writing a good paper starts with brainstorming a brilliant hook, which keeps your audience engaged with the text. There are many ways to formulate hooks, which will help your writing sound more original and compelling. Looking at some essay hook examples and tips on writing them is the first step to creating one of your own!

In this article:

What is a Hook?

Tips for creating a great hook, question hook examples, strong statement examples, fact/statistic hook examples, metaphor/simile hook examples, anecdotal hook examples.

A “hook” is a sentence that grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them interested in the outcome of your academic text or research paper. The hook is found in the first sentence or two in the opening paragraph in an academic text and serves both as an introduction and an attention grabber.

In literature, such sentences are often found in novels. A great personal favorite of mine is Christmas Carol’s first sentence: “Marley was dead: to begin with. ” This invites tons of interesting questions and piques your curiosity, making you want to read along.

We come across hook examples in our day-to-day lives, scrolling through YouTube video titles and website links. Clickbait can be considered the hook of the modern world, and there are tons of techniques to learn from it.

However, this article will focus on essay hooks for academic papers specifically. In the section below, we’ll be discussing tips on writing hook sentences and engaging your reader’s interest through a single opening sentence.

There are different types of hook sentences in an essay introduction. We’ll take a look at each type, and a few tips, so later on, you can start formulating your own essay hooks based on these few examples.

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• Question Hook: If you’re writing an art essay, philosophy paper, or business coursework, choosing a compelling and interesting question will leave the readers pondering throughout your text. The reader will automatically try to look for the answer within your research paper.
• Strong Statement: The opening lines can be controversial, a bold claim – the best hooks for argumentative essays are. This method can shock your audience, and they’ll be curious to learn how you defend your argument.
• Fact/Statistic Hook: These hook examples are used for scientific and academic assignments, allowing you to use a lesser-known fact or statistic which will grab the reader’s attention.
• Metaphor/Simile Hook: You can set up a scene by telling a short story for your readers to imagine before getting to your essay’s core. This metaphor hook can be highly compelling and relatable to your audience.
• Anecdotal Hook: The trickiest essay hook used to diffuse the tension surrounding a heavy topic. This tricky opening line should be carefully thought out and guaranteed to make the reader laugh and only used in the right circumstances.

If you’re using the fact/statistic hook, always make sure you quote a credible source. The same goes for the interesting facts hook type. Include those sources in the body of your essay.

It also helps to think of a hook you came across recently that made an impression on you. Was it a controversial blog post? A captivating personal story? A thesis statement that made you ponder?

Once you finish reading our article, it’s helpful to test your hook and introductory paragraph out to an audience. Have another student, tutor, or parent read it. See if it’s doing its purpose – is the reader engaged? What did they understand from your hook? Is the essay topic clear?

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right the first time. Writing is a long process and requires a lot of rewriting. Take a small break and give it another go.

How to Write a Great Hook + Examples

There are two crucial points to follow when you write a hook:

• Keep your sentences short – don’t overstuff your sentences or let them run longer than two rows.
• Use simple, comprehensive language – the ultimate essay can be read and understood by anyone, even people outside your academic course.

It’s time to get to the examples!

• What if I told you the world has an unlimited energy resource?
• How much screen time is too much for elementary school children?
• Is online education the best way to learn in the middle of a pandemic?
• Did you know women are twice as likely to experience clinical depression than men?
• Are your evening habits keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep?
• Do jobs that require degrees have a higher earning potential?
• How important is it for YouTubers to use search engine optimization strategies?
• Will the consumption of meat products become a luxury in the year 2050?
• Has reading become more challenging due to our short attention span?
• Have you ever wondered why traffic builds up on no-stop roads?
• Why we should feel sorry for high achievers?
• Why you don’t need to be exceptional?
• How much sugar do you think you consume?
• The effects of global warming are irreversible, so what can we do to optimize our living now?
• Should fireworks be banned due to noise pollution and its effect on animals?
• Has television died in place for streaming services?
• Is our hatred of certain foods and flavors a direct result of our genetic heritage?
• Android app development will die out in the next twenty years.
• You’ll always marry the wrong person.
• Why is ordinary life not good enough anymore?
• Why are romantics ruining love?
• “The wicked tend to win” Machiavelli
• The hardest person in the world to break up with.
• Some imaginary friends can cultivate independence in a child.
• Did you know that space smells like seared steak?
• The human body houses 10 times more bacteria than it does cells.
• The longest war in the world is between the Netherlands and Sicily and here’s what happened.
• “A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security” H. Kissinger
• Cat purring can be beneficial to your health.
• There is a scientific explanation behind boredom.
• The average drunk driver drives under the influence more than 80 times before they get arrested for the first time.
• 1/3 of adults still sleep with a comfort toy in bed.
• The average American generates nearly 4.5 pounds of trash each day.
• The global rate for keeping good hygiene after using the toilet is 20%.
• Americans read for pleasure for less than 10 minutes every day.
• The average American eats around 13 pounds of ice cream each year.
• More than 1/2 million people experience homelessness each night.
• Approximately 90% of people who experience a cardiac arrest outside of hospitals die.
• Farmers and ranchers make up less than 2% of Americans.
• Approximately half of Americans will experience a mental illness during their lifetime.
• My cousin Joanna went to a party with red lipstick all over her teeth. I couldn’t help myself to tell her.
• I dressed up as a werewolf last Halloween. That’s when everything started.
• As a child my grandfather gave my grandma her favorite flower- a rose on every holiday. Does this kind of love still exist?
• Last year my parents dragged me to Paris six times. I had the most dreadful time – I just couldn’t understand how such a historic city can be so dirty, or why.
• The cause and effect example – when talking about the importance of safety, tell a story with an important moral.
• Imagine sitting by the fire with the love of your life…
• I have a four-year old baby – my publishing business I started in 2018.
• The picture of… brought back memories of…
• It’s difficult to talk about… because…
• If you were a famous person, would you…
• When I was 6, I was given a pet hamster for Christmas. Needless to say, little Zach is gone now, but I wonder how long he could have lived if I had been given it at 12?
• One reason I decided to switch to a healthy diet is… well it’s cheaper than buying a whole new set of clothes!
• I like talking to myself. Sometimes I have these seemingly clever and long conversations. I hardly have a clue what I’m talking about.

Mastering the hook sentence is something you might end up using in your day-to-day life, especially if you go into academia, publishing, or journalism as a career choice. But that’s not it – we use hooks to communicate on social media. The title of our blog post or recent youtube video are examples of well-formulated hooks. The quicker you start practicing them the easier they’ll become to use.

If you’re having any other academic trouble, like coming up with essay topics , or you want to learn the outlines of the different essay types, we can help you with that! You’ll become an essay writing pro in no time! We’ve got some good and interesting research paper topics we’re proud of, as well as demonstration speech topics ! Hook sentence examples are just the start!

We hope this article has helped you master the art of essay writing, and you now find the reader agrees with your point of view! Let us know of any good hook examples you came up with!

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10 Theses About Cancel Culture

What we talk about when we talk about “cancellation.”

By Ross Douthat

Opinion Columnist

Cancel culture is destroying liberalism. No, cancel culture doesn’t exist. No, it has always existed; remember when Brutus and Cassius canceled Julius Caesar? No, it exists but it’s just a bunch of rich entitled celebrities complaining that people can finally talk back to them on Twitter. No, it doesn’t exist except when it’s good and the canceled deserve it. Actually, it does exist, but — well, look, I can’t explain it to you until you’ve read at least four open letters on the subject.

These are just a few of the answers that you’ll get to a simple question — “What is this cancel culture thing, anyway?” — if you’re foolish enough to toss it, like chum, into the seething waters of the internet. They’re contradictory because the phenomenon is complicated — but not complicated enough to deter me from making 10 sweeping claims about the subject.

So here goes:

1. Cancellation, properly understood, refers to an attack on someone’s employment and reputation by a determined collective of critics, based on an opinion or an action that is alleged to be disgraceful and disqualifying.

“Reputation” and “employment” are key terms here. You are not being canceled if you are merely being heckled or insulted — if somebody describes you as a moron or a fascist or some profane alternative to “Douthat” on the internet — no matter how vivid and threatening the heckling becomes. You are decidedly at risk of cancellation, however, if your critics are calling for you to be de-platformed or fired or put out of business , and especially if the call is coming from inside the house — from within your professional community, from co-workers or employees or potential customers or colleagues, on a professional message board or Slack or some interest-specific slice of social media.

2. All cultures cancel; the question is for what, how widely and through what means.

There is no human society where you can say or do anything you like and expect to keep your reputation and your job. Reputational cancellation hung over the heads of Edith Wharton’s heroines; professional cancellation shadowed 20th-century figures like Lenny Bruce. Today, almost all critics of cancel culture have some line they draw, some figure — usually a racist or anti-Semite — that they would cancel, too. And social conservatives who criticize cancel culture, especially, have to acknowledge that we’re partly just disagreeing with today’s list of cancellation-worthy sins.

3. Cancellation isn’t exactly about free speech, but a liberal society should theoretically cancel less frequently than its rivals.

The canceled individual hasn’t lost any First Amendment rights, because there is no constitutional right to a particular job or reputation. At the same time, under its own self-understanding, liberalism is supposed to clear a wider space for debate than other political systems and allow a wider range of personal expression. So you would expect a liberal society to be slower to cancel, more inclined to separate the personal and the professional (or the ideological and the artistic), and quicker to offer opportunities to regain one’s reputation and start one’s professional life anew.

“It’s a free country,” runs the American boast, and even if it doesn’t violate the Constitution, cancellation cuts against that promise — which is one reason arguments about cancel culture so often become arguments about liberalism itself.

Here’s What Cancel Culture Looked Like in 1283

The internet didn’t invent the angry mob..

Get your self-gratification! Can’t have a canceling without self-gratification! You are hereby sentenced to be publicly canceled by having thy head smoked — This will be a good one. Yea, love a good canceling! She’s been canceled, yeah? Shh! Shut out, on the bog pile of shame for the crime of saying something offensive 11 years ago! [cheers] 11 years ago! Let’s judge past statements by present-day perspective. It’s like saying the same thing today, kinda! Don’t I get a trial? No! This is a canceling. No due process. We are the jury! Our anger makes us qualified. Plus, we’re all perfect. Yea, we’re all perfect! You may be granted a reprieve if you apologize. Of course, I apologize. I’m sorry that you were offended. Sorry that we’re offended? That’s a non-apology. That’s worse than saying nothing. Well, if apologizing makes it worse, what’s the point of apologizing at all? She hates apologizing! Cancel her even more. Cancel her! Fare thee well, and may you never again utter the phrase, “[Expletive] the peasants!” [gasps] He just said something bad about peasants. I‘m a peasant, and I’m offended. No, I said, uh, she said, “[Expletive] the peasants!” Oh my god! He said it again. No, I love peasants. I would never say “[Expletive] — ” Cancel him! [chanting] I apologize, unreservedly. That’s not a good enough apology. I thought it was all right. An apology apologist! He’s for apologies. Get him. Oh hang on hang on. I’m confused. Are we against him, for being for apologies? Or against her, for being against apologies? Because — That’s irrelevant. What matters is that you’re angry. Cancel him! [chanting] But we’re supposed to be canceling her! Well, that was whole minutes ago. Who knows? Things we say today might be offensive in the future. She’s right, you might have offended me in the future. Well, you might be offending me in the future right now. Pre-cancel! Pre-cancel! It’s a pre-canceling! I hereby increase your taxes by 150 percent. No? Well, I’m going to burn your crops too. I’ll just get on with it then, shall I? Could I come along? Yes, yes please. Age before beauty!

4. The internet has changed the way we cancel, and extended cancellation’s reach.

On the other hand, a skeptic might say that it wasn’t liberalism but space and distance that made America a free country — the fact that you could always escape the tyrannies of local conformism by “lighting out for the territory,” in the old Mark Twain phrase. But under the rule of the internet there’s no leaving the village: Everywhere is the same place, and so is every time. You can be canceled for something you said in a crowd of complete strangers, if one of them uploads the video, or for a joke that came out wrong if you happened to make it on social media, or for something you said or did a long time ago if the internet remembers. And you don’t have to be prominent or political to be publicly shamed and permanently marked : All you need to do is have a particularly bad day, and the consequences could endure as long as Google.

5. The internet has also made it harder to figure out whether speech is getting freer or less free.

When critics of cancel culture fret about a potential online-era chill on speech, one rejoinder is that you can find far more ideas — both radical and noxious — swirling on the internet than you could in a sampling of magazines and daily newspapers circa 1990. It’s easier to encounter ideological extremes on your smartphone than it was in the beforetime of print media, and easier to encounter hateful speech as well.

But at the same time the internet has hastened the consolidation of cultural institutions, so that The New York Times and the Ivy League and other behemoths loom larger than they did 30 years ago, and it’s arguably increased uniformity across cities and regions and industries in general. And the battle over norms for cancellation reflects both of these changes: For would-be cancelers, the chaos of the internet makes it seem that much more important to establish rigorous new norms, lest the online racists win … but for people under threat of cancellation, it feels like they’re at risk at being shut out of a journalistic or academic marketplace that’s ever more consolidated, or defying a consensus that’s embraced by every boardroom and H.R. department.

6. Celebrities are the easiest people to target, but the hardest people to actually cancel.

One of the ur-examples of cancel culture was the activist Suey Park’s 2014 hashtag campaign to #cancelColbert over a satirical tweet from the Twitter account of “The Colbert Report.” Six years later, Stephen Colbert is very much uncanceled. So are Dave Chappelle, J.K. Rowling and a much longer list of prominent pop culture figures who have faced online mobs and lived to tell, sell and perform.

Their resilience explains why some people dismiss cancellation as just famous people whining about their critics. If someone has a big enough name or fan base, the bar for actual cancellation is quite high, and the celebrity might even have the opportunity — like a certain reality-television star on the campaign trail in 2016 — to use the hatred of the would-be cancelers to confirm a fandom or cement a following.

However, not everyone is a celebrity, and …

7. Cancel culture is most effective against people who are still rising in their fields, and it influences many people who don’t actually get canceled.

The point of cancellation is ultimately to establish norms for the majority, not to bring the stars back down to earth. So a climate of cancellation can succeed in changing the way people talk and argue and behave even if it doesn’t succeed in destroying the careers of some of the famous people that it targets. You don’t need to cancel Rowling if you can cancel the lesser-known novelist who takes her side; you don’t have to take down the famous academics who signed last week’s Harper’s Magazine letter attacking cancel culture if you can discourage people half their age from saying what they think. The goal isn’t to punish everyone, or even very many someones; it’s to shame or scare just enough people to make the rest conform.

8. The right and the left both cancel; it’s just that today’s right is too weak to do it effectively.

Is it cancel culture when conservatives try to get college professors disciplined for anti-Americanism, or critics of Israel de-platformed for anti-Semitism? Sure, in a sense. Was it cancel culture when the Dixie Chicks — sorry, the artists formerly known as the Dixie Chicks — were dropped by radio stations and tour venues, or when Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” was literally canceled, for falling afoul of patriotic correctness? Absolutely.

But as the latter examples suggest, the last peak of right-wing cultural power was the patriotically correct climate after Sept. 11, a cultural eon in the past. Today the people with the most to fear from a right-wing cancel culture usually work inside Trump-era professional conservatism. (And even for them there’s often a new life awaiting as a professional NeverTrumper.) Attempted cancellations on the right are mostly battles for control over diminishing terrain, with occasional forays against red-state academics and anti-Trump celebrities. Meanwhile, the left’s cancel warriors imagine themselves conquering the entire non-Fox News map.

9. The heat of the cancel-culture debate reflects the intersection of the internet as a medium for cancellation with the increasing power of left-wing moral norms as a justification for cancellation.

It’s not just technology or ideology, in other words, it’s both. The emergent, youthful left wants to take current taboos against racism and anti-Semitism and use them as a model for a wider range of limits — with more expansive definitions of what counts as racism and sexism and homophobia, a more sweeping theory of what sorts of speech and behavior threaten “harm” and a more precise linguistic etiquette for respectable professionals to follow. And the internet and social media, both outside institutions and within, are crucial mechanisms for this push.

It’s debatable whether these new left-wing norms would be illiberal or whether they would simply infuse liberalism with a new morality to replace the old Protestant consensus. It’s arguable whether they would expand the space for previously marginalized voices more than they would restrict once-mainstream, now “phobic” points of view. But there’s no question that people who fall afoul of the emergent norms are more exposed to cancellation than they would have been 10 or 20 years ago.

10. If you oppose left-wing cancel culture, appeals to liberalism and free speech aren’t enough.

I said earlier that debates about cancellations are also inevitably debates about liberalism and its limits. But to defend a liberal position in these arguments you need more than just a defense of free speech in the abstract; you need to defend free speech for the sake of some important, true idea. General principles are well and good, but if you can’t champion controversial ideas on their own merits, no merely procedural argument for granting them a platform will sustain itself against a passionate, morally confident attack.

So liberals or centrists who fear the left-wing zeal for cancellation need a counterargument that doesn’t rest on right-to-be-wrong principles alone. They need to identify the places where they think the new left-wing norms aren’t merely too censorious but simply wrong, and fight the battle there, on substance as well as liberal principle.

Otherwise their battle for free speech is only likely to win them the privilege of having their own ideas canceled last of all.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTOpinion) and Instagram , join the Facebook political discussion group, Voting While Female .

You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter: @ DouthatNYT

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Reflections

In this course, we defined hookup culture as “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” I personally struggle to agree with this collective definition due to it containing terms such as intimate and sexual. This two-week period focused on groups which essentially allowed us to understand that there is not a concise definition of hooking up. Individuals view and conceptualize hooking up in different forms which concludes that hooking up is not always an intimate encounter or a sexual act. This is made evident in Bogle’s novel on page 26 when she asks her research subjects to define hooking up. Each subject had a different answer which can be attributed to a group they may identify. Overall, the course’s collective definition struggles to be truly inclusive in regard to respective groups.

The research and discourse behind hookup culture are presented from a limited lens. When you look at the authors and demographics of the research subjects of this topic, it is evident that it lacks diversity. Hookup culture is an extensive topic in which diversity and inclusion is needed to ensure there is a full perspective on the subject matter. The only thing that seem to resonate with me during these past two weeks is that I am only able to relate to this literature simply because I am a college student. If I didn’t attend college, I would lack any representation in this research. Although the focus of research was limited to college campuses in both novels by Bogle & Wade and Wade does mention minorities in her research, it is limited not due to subjects, but the choice to not actively attempt to diversify samples to ensure minority groups were being included. There is a great deal of information missing from this research and having a better sampling would allow me to truly see my experiences encapsulated in this research.

An external source my group was able to encounter that coincides with this two-week period’s topic was Faith with Benefits by Jason King. King discusses hookup culture within catholic college campuses, providing a more in-depth than previous research. The author provides substantial quantitative data by implementing research from 26 different college campuses, surveying over 1,000+ students. Additionally, King includes qualitative data regarding perceptions of hookup culture as well as participation in it. Incorporating protected groups in hookup culture research provides an insight of hookup culture on non-religious affiliated college campuses. Similar to the research by Bogle and Wade, this research lack diversity within the sampling pools in regard to race and class. This discourages data that could be essential to studying hookup culture within a religious demographic. Overall, this source would be beneficial however, a more diverse sampling would be ideal for substantial research. This especially holds truth considering past research that incorporates the ideals of black church and sexual behavior conceptions within the black community.

My personal experiences as a black male engaging in hookup culture have been interesting. Due to stereotypes and perceptions about my identity as a black male, my experiences have been hindered due to being hypersexualized and fetishized in certain contexts. Although hooking up is viewed as something that lacks any instances of emotion, I struggle to know if I’m actually considered attractive by the other person or if I am a fantasy being lived out when engaging in hookup practices. Thus, having qualitative data such as my experiences would benefit the overall research of hookup culture in regards to groups, further understanding how complex hookup culture is.

At the very beginning of the semester, before we really did anything else, our class came up with a fluid definition of what hookup culture is. After much discussion and some disagreement, we ended up saying that hookup culture is a “consensual, intimate interaction between 2 or more people that does not involve commitment.” Since we established that definition, we have been able to dive deeper into hookup culture, who participates in it, what it entails, and a plethora of other details. Over the course of the last two weeks, my team and I have explored and learned more about the groups that make up hookup culture. We have done so by actively participating in group and class discussions, reading our class books by Wade and Bogle, doing some online research, and also by sharing a few of our own personal experiences with each other.

Like I said, we have focused on the category of “groups” for the past few class periods, and it has really helped me reflect on my own experiences with hookup culture. One of our elements under the “group” category is age range, which is a huge aspect of hookup culture, in my opinion. College-aged individuals are definitely more active participants in hookup culture compared to any other age range, at least in my experience, and the readings that I’ve done have also helped confirm that assumption. For example, in high school and in my younger teenage years, I would have never really seen myself having casual sex with people I barely knew, but once I got to college, that type of sexual behavior kind of became the norm and I found myself participating in it.

Another element under the “groups” category is religion/individuals who are religious. I also connect to this element personally because one of my best friends fits under this subcategory. She was raised in a religious home and has always promised herself that she would not have sex until marriage. Although she hasn’t had sex, she has participated in other acts (without any form of commitment) that would still fit under our class definition of what hooking up is. So, although religion can definitely keep people from going “all the way”, it doesn’t always keep people completely detached from hookup culture, especially in a university setting where hooking up is the norm and “everyone does it.”

Going back to what I said about college-aged people participating in hookup culture, this is the group that I focused on the most in my readings and research over the past few weeks. In “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus” by Kathleen Bogle, university students were interviewed and when asked if people still dated nowadays in college, students laughed and emphasized that hooking up is much more prevalent among their peers (44). Also, in an online article that I read, it revealed that over the past ten years, about 75% of college students have “hooked up” with someone in one way or another (Ludden). However, contrary to my previous beliefs, the article went on to state that the sexual practices of college students today aren’t much different than those of their parents in the 1980s (Ludden). So, although I was wrong in assuming that college kids now are hooking up more than their parents did, a lot of my assumptions about high hook-up rates and low dating rates on campus were at least partially correct.

I have a love-hate relationship with hookup culture. I sometimes enjoy being able to have sexual connections with a person without the expectations of a relationship, but at the same time, the other part of me wishes that college culture wasn’t so saturated with people who just want to have sex and then never speak again unless they’re asking to hook up. However, I am glad that I’ve participated in hookup culture on campus because it has helped me learn more about myself and it’s provided me with some valuable lessons and experiences, believe it or not.

In the hookup culture, Bogle mentioned the people who were most likely to hook up were those people in Greek life or who attended events featuring alcohol (2008). As someone who doesn’t drink, and who isn’t involved in any form of Greek life I once again saw the groups in which I identified with not being mentioned. This week we focused on the group aspect of “hookup culture”. I’m still trying to figure out my sexuality honestly so I’m not a hundred percent sure if I belong in certain groups or not. However one thing I found really interesting was the fact that racial minority groups were on the list. I wasn’t aware that different races hook up differently. Now that we’ve discussed it within our groups I can say they do. Everyone culture has a different view point regarding sex and the cultures in which I belong to view sex as something meant for marriage. I know a lot of people within my culture who hookup and it’s just never discussed. Bogle talks about how our generation has the same amount of sex as our parents and I am not surprised by this. Growing up my parents would give me mixed messages regarding sex on the one hand they would say “wait till marriage” and then on the other hand my father has 15 kids and only 4 of them were birthed by my mother. These facts let me know that my dad definitely didn’t follow the advice he was giving me and he wasn’t faithful in any of his 4 marriages because my sister and I are 2 months apart. And we have different mothers. I feel like my parents’ generation failed us in preparing for sex because a lot of my friends have out-of-wedlock siblings.

My team focused mainly on the LGBTQ+ community for our groups. We felt that they are never fairly talked about and that leads to them less likely to be hooking up because they’re not really clear on what to do. We used articles to try to bring their stories to light. We also focused on other ethnic minority groups and to bring their experiences out, we interviewed a few members from these ethic minority groups. For the social communicative aspect of hookup culture we mainly focused on how social media allows people especially people who are maybe less extroverted to put themselves out there and find partners through safe “walls’ ‘ such as Tinder and Grindr.

My experience with “hookup culture” has been HORRIBLE. I hate it here I can’t wait to be out of college and hopefully out of this toxic culture. I have engaged in this culture two times and each time I’ve been left shattered. I think it’s the specific partners that I’ve unfortunately come across. As someone who is sensitive and who I’ve found can’t have sex without forming an attachment, I find myself getting with partners who can’t be honest about their wants and them being emotionally unavailable along with their intentions regarding me. I always get led on, and left behind. I hate how everyone is so okay with meeting people and getting to know them briefly and then pretending they don’t exist after the “situationship” ends. It’s annoying and weird and I think that’s the part that hurts me the most because I’m not good at it, I care too much. My experience so far has honestly messed with my mental health and I’ve decided to completely close myself off from guys until I graduate college next year.

Over the course of five weeks, my classmates and I have discussed and come up with a definition for hookup culture. The definition we came up with is that hookup culture is a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. Personally, I think this definition does accurately represent my definition of what a hookup is. Where I am from, hooking up did not always involve sex, making out with someone was considered “hooking up”. After coming to college, I realized that some people believed that an encounter could only be considered a hookup if sex had taken place. That is when I discovered that the topic of hook up had a variety of meanings to everyone. Everyone has their own personal experiences and feelings towards hooking up that shapes their definition. I then began to wonder the people who only believe hooking up only meant sex, what they thought any other type of sexual contact meant. I find it in our culture that the disconnect between people that grew up just a few hours away from one another could have such different views on this topic.

When I began to read Bogle and Wade it furthered my feelings of having a disconnect in hookup culture because of the wide variety of definitions given (2008; 2017). I think when I came to college it was an eye opener for me to see how many people hookup with multiple people in any given week. I was even shocked to see how open everyone was about it. Growing up I had a conservative background and in high school it was mentioned but, coming to college has been like entering a new world where hooking up is the norm. Despite some people being open about their experiences, there are still some who are very closed off and judgmental about it. I find everyone’s opinions valid and I believe everyone is entitled to their own, but I do not think people should be judging others for choices they have made. One of the greatest problems facing society today is judgement. If judgment could be removed, I believe we would live in a more peaceful world. Especially when it comes to hookups, it is a very personal preference and choice that everyone has a right to make for themselves.

In my team we decided to research religious groups. We chose this perspective because in both Bogle and Wade’s book there is not much mention about religious groups and how they experience the hookup culture. In fact, the books do not really talk about any minorities in the hookup culture because there simply is not much research and information that has been done on them (2008; 2017). Since I grew up in a religious upbringing, my group and I wanted to find out more about how hookup culture takes place in these groups. Our group also mentioned the stereotypes of ages in hookup culture. We discussed how it is mostly viewed that hooking up happens during the college years, but when we think about the elderly community hooking up there is sort of a stigma behind it. I think it would be interesting to find out why it is seen as normative for one age group but not for another. Including information on this topic could be interesting for our book and help to gain more of an audience for the book.

I personally have not been involved in the college hook up culture. I have been with my boyfriend since my senior year of high school and we decided to not participate in hookups that many of my peers do. However, many of my friends are not in relationships and do participate in hooking up with other people. When I ask them about it they say they take part in hooking up because it is enjoyable for them. Again, it is very personally for each person and I think being able to make the decision on what is right for you is very important.

Our class spent the first two weeks of the course defining “hook up” culture. This process took a long time as the class consists of people from many different backgrounds and whom all have different beliefs. These differences can impact what people consider a “hook up.” For instance, some might consider a “hook up” kissing, while others may think of it is a more intimate moment. The definition our class composed for a “hook up” is, “a consensual, intimate, interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” I would say this definition is similar to my personal definition of “hook up” culture. I believe “hook up” is a loose term, open to interpretation. I think a big part of modern “hook up” culture is the idea of no commitment or emotional intimacy because most people are just looking to have fun or mess around. Through class discussions we generated a list of categories and subcategories we felt related to “hook up” culture. The class definition relates to the focus category of Groups as individuals belong and associate with different groups of people. Based on the groups we came up with, I do not feel I fit or belong in any of the categories. If we were to modify our groups, I think Greek Life would be one to consider since many people participate in these organizations. If this were a group, I would best fit into this group.

I have really enjoyed reading the two books we have chosen for this course. Some items that resonated with me from weeks 4 and 5 were from our team and class discussions of the textbooks, by Lisa Wade and Kathleen A. Bogle. In Wade’s book she states that, “the idea that college students are having a lot of sex is certainly an enthralling myth. Even students believe it…students overestimate how much sex their peers are having, and by quite a lot” (17). This statement stood out to me because I assumed most college students participated in “hook up” culture as it seemed to be a large part of the campus life. Another item that Wade pointed out was that only a handful of students listed religion as the reason they do not partake in “hook up” culture (22). It seems the prevalence of this modern culture has caused people to modify their beliefs and start participating in “hook ups.”

My team has done a lot of research on the “hook up” culture of various groups. One group we enjoyed researching was the religious community as we noticed this group is experiencing the most change. In an article we found written by Amy Burdette, we found that religious aspects related to “hook up” culture are changing as relationships and behaviors on campus’ are also changing. In the past, there were some traditional courtship practices that were performed, but it is now common to see many informal practices. A factor we plan to do more research on is the impact of home life on religious beliefs and practices. It is possible that people who come from families with less strict and looser rules might not follow the traditional rules. In comparison, an individual raised in a household where religion was very important may stick to the traditional ways.

I feel like the age group I am a part of is very involved in “hook up” culture, it seems like everyone is constantly hooking up. I do not find myself participating in the more intimate end of “hook ups” because that does not align with my morals, but I do have a story I will share about one of my “hook ups.” So, one time I meet this guy while I was out with friends and we talked all night. At the end of the evening, we exchanged snapchats and then went our separate ways. Following this night, we snapchatted back and forth a little and this then led to us hanging out. When we hung out it was what you would expect, very causal with a movie. Our “hook up” was just some kissing, but nothing more. After this “hook up,” I still keep in touch with this guy; we are actually friends.

During the first few weeks of the semester, our class set out to create our own definition of “hookup” culture. Since there is a lot of ambiguity in the definition of “hooking up,” this took multiple class periods of people debating what “hooking up” really entails. Ultimately, our class defined “hookup” culture as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between two or more people without commitment. While some people consider “hooking up” to be anything from kissing to sex, I have never really thought of kissing alone as “hooking up,” although I believe that it often leads to a “hookup.” I believe that one really important concept in “hookup” culture is no commitment. I think that the commitment part of the definition is what sets “hooking up” apart from more serious sexual relationships. As we began to discuss the idea of groups within the “hookup” culture, I realized that our definition is really inclusive towards different groups, such as gender, age, religion, sexuality, class, and race. After listening to different classmates share their opinions on what “hooking up” means to them, I realized that this means something different to everyone.

In the books Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus by Kathleen Bogle and American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus by Lisa Wade, I am seeing a strong pattern in the difference between the gender groups of men and women (2008; 2017). Both books have focused on the sexual double standard between men and women, and how (at least for college-aged students who live on campus) men are praised for hooking up with a lot of women, but if you’re a girl and you hook up with a lot of people, it is looked down upon (Bogle 103). Although I am not sure why this double standard exists, as a college student who lives on the campus of a large university, I can say that this does seem to be the way that most people think.

As my team conducted research for the Groups category of “hookup” culture, we came across two scholarly articles that focus on different religious groups, and on the LGTBQ community. As I was reading through the books by Bogle and Wade, I noticed that religion and the LGBTQ community were rarely mentioned, if at all. Also, I think that even in class, we haven’t focused on these groups as much as we have looked at gender differences and age groups. The scholarly article relating to religion is called “Hooking Up” at College: Does Religion Make a Difference? and was written by Amy M. Burdette, Terrence D. Hill, Christopher G. Ellison, and Norval D. Glenn (2009). This research was conducted on a national sample of 1,000 college women. The results show that Catholic college women are more likely to have “hooked up” while at school than college women with no religious affiliation. Also, conservative Protestant college women are less likely to have “hooked up” while at school than college women with no religious affiliation. This could have to do with church attendance, which is against “hookup” culture. The last big trend is that women who attend colleges and universities with a Catholic affiliation are more likely to have hooked up while at school than women who attend academic institutions with no religious affiliation (Burdette et al.). All of these trends surprised me, and I would expect them to be the other way around. I have a friend who went to a Catholic high school, and she is against having sex before marriage. Even when submerged in the strong “hookup culture” here at MSU, she has stuck with her religious beliefs, and has not participated in “hookup culture.” To me, it seems that most people act the way their parents have raised them, and if they went to a religious school growing up, they are less likely to participate in “hookup” culture.

The second article that we found focuses on the LGBTQ community and is called Navigating Campus Hookup Culture: LGBTQ Students and College Hookups by Ellen Lamont, Teresa Roach, and Sope Kahn (2018). This article points out that most research on college “hookup” culture specifically focuses on gender and being heteronormative. There is very little research done on how people in the LGBTQ community navigate “hooking up” on college campuses. This research was based on interviews with 24 LGBTQ college students at a regional university in the southeastern United States. Many of these students are critical of the dominant “hookup” culture on college campuses and claim that heterosexual “hookups” are overly scripted, especially along gender lines. More importantly, these LGBTQ students admit to feelings of alienation and exclusion from the dominant “hookup” scene on college campuses. They claim to either experience isolation or they seek out more “queer-friendly” spaces off campus. Although I identify as a straight female, I believe that people should be able to “hook up” with anyone they want and shouldn’t be judged or feel alienated on a college campus. I wish that “hookup culture” in the LGBTQ community was discussed more and incorporated more into “hookup” culture literatures, and I believe that our class has the power to conduct research and incorporate these minority groups into our “hookup” culture book.

Personally, I don’t participate in “hookup” culture, although I am submerged in it as I have lived in the dorms all four years of my undergrad. I don’t have anything against “hooking” up, I just have a boyfriend, and I know that if I did participate in “hooking up,” I would be very bad at step 5 of Wade’s steps to a proper hookup, which is to establish meaninglessness (41). I know myself, and I would “catch feelings” and would want the hookup to lead to something more serious. I have many friends who do participate in the “hookup” culture, and they enjoy it! Everyone is different, and I would encourage anyone to do what makes them happy.

In the first two weeks of school our class defined “hookup” culture as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. Not everyone agrees with our definition so we have the quotation marks around hookup. The first step we took to define “hookup” culture our class split into groups and discussed what we thought about it. My group came up with multiple definitions and when we were done there was a class discussion. Our class shared a lot of their thoughts and decided to combine all of the main parts to make one long definition. Some controversial parts of our definition are the consensual and sexual. I have been reading books about “hookup” culture and some people don’t think it has to be consensual. I believe that it has to be consensual because if it’s not its rape and rape is different than “hookup” culture. The other controversial thing is the sexual definition. I believe that kissing is sexual and foreplay is but I know people that don’t agree with me. This all just adds onto why we have the quotations because everyone has different backgrounds and don’t think the same.

From the time I’ve started this class to now I have read many articles, books and other resources on “hookup” culture. I have learned that “hookup” culture has changed throughout the years; it used to be more reserved and not as open as it is now. It used to have subtler and now people are more forward about wanting to “hookup”. The music videos a couple decades ago you can’t to infer more about the meaning of objects and now it’s almost naked women dancing. Also dancing and clothes connected to “hookup” culture has changed. It used to be more tight leather clothes and not gridding on each other, but now it’s minimal clothes and twerking. I like how the “hookup” culture is a more open accepting topic to talk about. I know it used to be a subject you don’t bring up but now it’s something you can discuss and ask for advice.

There are many parts to the “hookup” culture. My group gathered many resources to help us explain each part. For social commutative we got a scholarly article explaining were most people meet when finding a partner or partners for “hookup”. Also we are going to interview a roommate of one of my teammates and we will ask him where he finds his partners and how. Other part to “hookup” is group. To help show how group plays a role we found a scholarly article on how race/ethnicity play a factor in “hookups”. It explains how some groups have different experiences than others. For the part music, television and film my group found a couple music videos. These songs are part of the “hookup” culture because some people listen to music while they “hookup.” Lastly the part of psychological my group will have a survey and it will help us get some information on how and why they participate in the “hookup” culture.

I participate in “hookup” culture. I started participating in the “hookup” culture when I was 18. The place where I find people to “hookup” with is at parties. I have never used social media to find a partner but my friends do and they are successful with it. I like to meet a people in person so I can talk to them and know who they are. I never go out to a party thinking that I am going to “hookup” I just wait until the right time and the right partner.

I would define “hookup” in a similar way that we did so in class. I think that it is correct in saying, consensual and agree that hookups are always intimate no matter what group-religious, spiritual, LGBTQ, race, and age. Intimacy and sexual I think go hand-in-hand, as to be intimate you are being close and personal and in being sexual you are communicating that you want to be intimate with the other. Furthermore, when I think of hooking up with people, it does not pop in my mind that it is between two or more people in the same session of “hookup”, but nonetheless I agree that this can occur or be normal for others, whether they consider themselves a part of a “group” we’ve defined or not. Finally, I think hooking up could involve levels of commitment differently amongst groups. While it may be wrong to assume, I can’t help but lean towards the example of those younger in age typically consider a hookup with “no strings attached”; whereas, it is more common for those older in age to be more conservative with their time leading them to prefer at least some sort of commitment if they “hookup”.

I grew up in a Christian home and I think with that aspect of my life, many people assume that I am opposed to hookup culture, which is not the case. While my definition of hooking up may be different then the next persons, which is a common theme among us all, I have learned what’s “healthy” for me. I am not a person who does well with the “no strings attached”. I do not really desire to hook up with someone I don’t know, because while being intimate with someone is fun… I also enjoy talking and getting to know the person. I think that is just how I am wired. Despite me trying my hardest to “not care”, I have found that all my actions need to be purposeful and have some sort of meaning for me to feel fulfilled. Furthermore, where I am from and despite the different environments I have been in, LGBTQ community is still very new. However, I have enjoyed learning more about it this past week and appreciate how I am becoming more aware of groups I may have not thought of before.

In the past couple weeks discussion of “groups”, my team didn’t really rely on external sources too much throughout our chats. We mostly talked about our own lives and how the categories of religion, minority, and LGBTQ have played a role. While I’m sure external sources would be helpful, at Michigan State we are immersed in people who are different from us and I particularly find it more insightful to use the sources we have sitting right next to us and who can respond to questions. One thing that really resonated with all of us in our small group was the discussion of how our home life has shaped us. We related this topic back to religion and how it is normal for some, or the relationship of our parents and how that has affected us. We talked about how this could be related to our psychological-learned behaviors and inclinations towards how we participate in hookup culture.

Looking back, I find it very interesting how I have had to constantly redefine “hookup” for my parents and grandparents over the years because it truly does seem to be ever-changing. I have felt surrounded by hookup culture since I was in high school and while it has taken different shapes, forms, and meanings, it is still a part of my everyday environment. Having said this, I don’t really think of it as something that affects me too much. Perhaps this is because it has become so normal, or that it’s always a topic among my friends. However, after this week I have noticed how those that I immediately surround myself with share similar views and beliefs with me so I think that it has been hard to get a different perspective on hookup culture and how it may differ among groups up until now.

Hookup culture can be defined in many ways, the definition is different for everyone. In class we defined “hookup” culture as, “as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment”. The definition created in class are very similar to how I would define hookup culture. The only thing I would change would be the part where it says it is a brief interaction, because technically the interaction can be more than just brief. You can be hooking up with someone but also get to know them after and spend more time with them. My parents have always made sure we have an open communication about sex, hookups, and dating. I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do through what they told me. They taught me to not give it up easy and make sure you know your worth.

As explained by Leah Fessler in the article “A lot of women don’t enjoy hookup culture-so why do we force ourselves to participate?”, girls don’t like hookup culture because it heightens sexual insecurities and the chances of having an orgasm is highly unlikely due to the hookups being with a guy who doesn’t really know you or care to know you. The sex is better when there is an emotional connection and the two people know each other well. Fessler also describes that a growing hookup culture makes it very hard to believe that real relationships are possible. The more you hookup and don’t form emotional connections, the harder it is to get into a committed relationship.

My team and I focused on the topic of groups that aren’t represented in the hookup culture phenomenon. There are many groups that are not talked about when people think of hookup culture. What first comes to mind when thinking about hooking up is a girl and a guy that are in their teenager or early adult years, many people don’t think of the gay community or people that are older when looking and talking about this. Our group found sources that talk about how these stereotypes about hooking up sometimes aren’t true and not looked at fully. A lot of articles only focus on a certain group and hooking up. They look at teenagers and young adults mostly. Obviously, other people in the world are hooking up and should be involved in those statistics and talks.

My personal experience with hookup culture has been both good and bad, as I feel like it is for everyone. There have been some really good hookups where we still talk and remained friends, where there have been others that I have blocked them right after or never talked to them again. The person you hookup with and their personality determines how the experience will go and how the future will be between you guys. It is easy to make the hookup purely physical if you do not strive or have a personal connection with the person, once feelings are involved it starts to become more confusing for everyone. The best sex I have had is with guys that I have a personal connection with and got to know really well before I had sex with them. The more someone gets to know you, the better they can sexually please you and the time you spend together becomes more special. At some point everyone wants to find someone they genuinely like. Overall, hookup culture needs to exist for people to figure out what they like and what they don’t like in a partner.

The first few weeks of class we spent time creating our own definition of “hookup.” After many changes we decided on: a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. I would say this definition is close enough to what I personally consider a “hookup” to be, I’m not sure I’d use the word intimate because I don’t always find hookups to be intimate from what I have heard. But then again, everyone has their own experiences. For me, when I hear people “hooked up” I usually think it’s more than just kissing and it’s actually having sex, usually meaningless sex. In class, we broke down our definition into categories and then into subcategories that we are referring to as elements. The last two weeks, we have focused on the category of groups. Within this category, the element I believe I connect most with would be religious. I do not consider myself to be religious, but the way I was raised and the way my parents went about everything was from a religious point of view. My family is Catholic, and the idea of premarital sex is a big no-no. I did not exactly follow through with that idea my parents have put in my head, but I also don’t participate in the hookup culture. Just because I’m not a virgin, doesn’t mean I just am okay with sleeping with anyone and everyone. My morals just don’t coincide with that. I have been on and off with my boyfriend for quite some time so I don’t really have a reason to sleep with a random. I also know I would be the one to catch feelings from a hookup, so I just stray away from that.

Discussing Bogle and Wade’s books in class after reading really made me realize how different some people’s opinions and thoughts are on hooking up and the culture that surrounds it (2008; 2017). Some of the students Bogle interviews consider hooking up to be anything from kissing to sex. I don’t find kissing to be part of a hookup, it can most definitely lead to people hooking up but I don’t consider that action alone to be a hookup. I know hooking up is extremely common in our age group, it’s a big part of college. I think about it as the experimenting stage cause this is when everyone figures out what they like and where they stand sexually. I definitely think the hookup culture from campus to campus differs. A religious school will definitely have students hooking up but it will be more discrete and low-key compared to a big public university like the one we attend. This culture is all around us. Looking at our school, I would say most people are engaged in this culture, but Wade states that we overestimate how many of our peers are actually hooking up (2017). Interesting to think about considering I would think more than half of our university’s students participate in hookup culture one way or another.

While working on our annotated bibliography, my team researched all of the categories we have created to make up our definition. An article we looked at, relating to groups under the religious element. Burdette, acknowledged that hookup culture can depend on one’s commitment to their religious traditions. Like I said earlier, I personally am not very religious but my parents are. A lot of things I choose not to do reflect my morals that come from the ways my parents raised me. Someone can be forced to go to a religious school or they may go just to please their parents, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are religious. Another external source we looked at was an article that related to the groups category but this time under the element LGBTQ. This article emphasized how LGBTQ individuals are excluded from the hookup culture. I would agree with this, but I also think it’s because these ideas have just recently been accepted in the world so it’s still new for a lot of people.

Again, I don’t engage in hookup culture. I prefer to stick to what I know and am comfortable with. I do see the culture everywhere though, no matter what group people belong to, someone is always hooking up. Living in the dorms my freshman year, I got to really see hookup culture on our campus. Both Bogle and Wade at one point state that most freshman like to experiment and see what’s out there, they aren’t interested in an exclusive relationship (2008; 2017). I lived on a coed floor, so I witnessed a lot of the students sleeping with each other or just “messing around” meaning everything but sex. This ruined a lot of friendships, and a lot of times things got awkward. My roommate at the time, would always go across the hall to one of our friends’ dorm. They did everything but have sex and it was clear to both of them that that’s all it was- messing around. Still, my roommate was upset and cried when she saw him with another girl. Witnessing this pushed me further away from this culture because I did not want to put myself through that. I don’t feel disconnected from any part of this class even though I don’t personally participate in the hookup culture, I am still a part of it.

Our class defined hookup culture as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between two or more people without commitment. I would say this definition resonates to my personal definition for the most part, but I do disagree in a few ways. Firstly, I feel that a hookup does not need to be sexual. The way I view it, hookup is a very vague word to describe this interaction between two or more people, and the people experiencing the hookup would be able to talk more about their own specific hookup. To me, a hookup can range anywhere from kissing all the way to a sexual interaction. I don’t think saying you hooked up with someone automatically entails that the interaction was sexual, and that is up to the people involved to specify. Secondly, I think the definition of hookup culture would mean something different to different groups of people. One group of people may view hooking up differently from another group. For example, if you asked a group of frat boys or sorority girls what they think hooking up means or entails, it is likely they would say only sex because that is what many of them participate in and view it as. However, a college student that is not in one of these groups may see hooking up from a different light, and have their own experiences and ways of viewing the definition that does not involve sex.

In class we did a lot of talking about the history of hookup culture and how it has changed over time. We looked at pictures and listened to music about hookup culture in the past, and compared how it was viewed back then to now. I would say one big difference that stood out to me was the change in how we view LGBTQ people hooking up back then to today. Even not too long ago, society was not as open or accepting of the emergence of LGBTQ people in society, let alone these people hooking up. These people were on the margins, and looked down upon for who they were and their decisions were not a positive part of society in many people’s eyes. Today, this group of people is generally more accepted in our society today than history (although we still have a long way to go), and I think that is a huge difference in this group. This resonated with me because it shows me how fast society’s ideals and opinions can change if people are all fighting for a common good. One similarity I see between hooking up in history and today is the amount of people hooking up. Studies show that people hooked up back then just as much as people do now, which is an alarming statistic. The way society views hooking up today, you would think more people hook up now. This just shows the effect that social media can have on people’s perceptions of the culture.

For the category of groups, our team used a video called “Should You Have Sex Before Marriage? Can They Agree?” This YouTube video brings together people who are advocates of sex before marriage and people who are advocates of abstinence, and sits them down to discuss their viewpoints on the topic and what they believe, to see if they can find a middle ground. It shows the opinions of two different groups and goes into depths of what they specifically believe. Some good things about this video we found were that both sides are presented very clearly in the video, and many different kinds of people were presented as well. The ability that this video has to show people of different backgrounds and ethnicities shows the diversity of opinions and makes the video more well-rounded. This trait represents different people’s upbringings. From the video, we also found some not so good things. This includes that the ages of the people in the video are not very diverse, and many of the people talking and sharing their opinions are in their 20’s and 30’s. This could be biased because it excludes the younger generation and the older generation, and their mindsets on how it was when they/are being raised. It also brushes over the fact that having many ages could show similarities and differences on how the topic is viewed from different generations. We also found the video used a small group of people in general, where using more people could just simply add more opinions and contribute to more diversity in answers.

I have participated in hookup culture before but honestly have not much recently. I did a fair amount in the beginning of my freshman year, when I was meeting many new people, including many new boys. As I have grown up, I have realized that it has taken a toll on how I feel emotionally towards people. I would feel something more towards someone I hooked up with, when they would not, or even vice versa. This would lead to feelings being distorted and would lead me to be pretty lost and confused. I didn’t like it. Within the category of groups, as I have gone through college, my religion has played a role on how I view hooking up. I go to a local church, and a lot of my friends go to this church as well. They do not participate nor approve in hookup culture, and I think a lot of their opinions and viewpoints shape my thinking. It is not that I do not participate at all anymore because of them, but I would feel judged if I mentioned what I participate in to them. I think the type of people you hang out with influences your thinking to a great extent, and the group of religious friends I hang out with for sure I have seen impact my thinking.

During the span of these five short weeks of class, we have made a large amount of progress in tackling and understanding the monster that is “hook-up” culture. We have woven our way through many categories and aspects of this culture, yet the category for this week, groups, is probably the biggest one in terms of differentiating different hook-ups. The category of groups is a blanket term, covering a wide variety of different groups, whether those groups be religion-based, sexuality-based, race-based, or any others. Studying these groups and how hook-up culture functions inside each of them is a great way to understand the culture as a whole.

In the first week of class, we defined a hook-up to be, “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. In studying groups for the past two weeks, I think this definition has only strengthened, because it is applicable for any group we could be referencing. We succeed at using inclusive language in our definition, so that every group is included. For example, the use of language such as “intimate interaction that is sexual” is careful to include a group such as Christianity that may practice celibacy, but still consider themselves active members of hook-up culture.

One of the things that resonated with me in talking about groups in relation to hook-up culture was Professor Acevedo’s personal stories in relation to the topic. Specifically, her encounter with the types of ways in which groups can class and not be inclusive in regards to hook-up culture, like when the boy she dated many years ago was adamant about her not having been with any black men prior to him.

I believe that the key point that was most relevant to our group was the process described from the readings. My group consists of a culmination of different groups that all consider themselves a part of the hook-up culture, so it was interesting to have discussion about how different that culture is for us. I feel like this particular point was also emphasized as a class whole, with people sharing their experience outside of the hook-up culture (in long distance relationships) as well as their big turn-offs in regards to the process of the hook-up culture (grinding at parties).

I believe that Dr. Acevedo’s stories resonated with me because I see glimpses of the way in which hook-up culture between races still clashes today. For example, within the black community, there is a negative stigma around a black man dating a white woman. It is not as prominent as it once was, but there is still much debate and discourse over interracial couples, and it is something that is experienced on a daily basis. It is something I have seen first-hand: friends of mine who are in relationships with white women and are chastised for it.

Whenever I talk to my friends about how their weekends went, or if they have anything exciting to report, the topic of two people hooking up typically comes into play. The term “hooking up” can be ambiguous because I feel like the definition differs on a person to person basis. For one individual, hooking up could mean just making out at the back of a party, while another person might not define that as a hookup because in their mind, sex has to occur for the interaction to be considered an authentic “hookup”. In our class, we have defined the definition of a hookup to be, “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2 or more people without commitment”. In general, I do agree with this definition of a hookup, especially the part that emphasizes the “no commitment” aspect of it. In my opinion, making out, sex, or mutual masturbation could all be involved in a hookup; it doesn’t always have to be strictly sex. My take on the definition seems to be common too because when my friends do share details from their hookups, most of the time sex isn’t involved, and they usually just talk about how they made out with someone at a party while still defining that as a hookup. If the other individual is comfortable enough, I believe it’s important to clarify what they mean when they refer to a “hookup” so confusion can be avoided.

When looking at this week’s category of “groups” in reference to hookup culture, we analyzed various marginalized groups that do not get proper representation in today’s society, let alone in hookup culture. Groups such as the LGBTQ+, African Americans, Latinx, Asians, and a multitude of others often are left out of the hookup script. While I do not belong to any of the listed groups, I do believe that they should be included in not only hookup culture, but every other aspect of life as well. When we do not represent minority groups, we are doing a disservice to the future of mankind. All people should be included and represented, because that provides a sense of comfort, acceptance, and belonging, which is a vital part of development, and even included in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (McLeod 2018). When referring to religious group beliefs, I am able to identify with the teachings of Christianity, and how that contradicts the hookup culture. Growing up, I was always told how important it was to wait to partake in sex until you’re married. Since that idea has always been a part of my life, I do struggle with guilt sometimes after being part of the hookup culture, because I feel like I have done something wrong. To this day, I am still figuring out my feelings about hookup culture, and how it related to the roots of my religious upbringing.

While paging through the annotated bibliography that my group completed, there were not any sources that highlighted the marginalized groups’ references in my previous paragraph. I don’t think this was intentional, but rather it was a matter of not finding sources that included any of those groups, because most research is done by heterosexual white males and females, and they report on their similar groups. This goes to show that more research is needed that includes these marginalized groups as a way of making them feel belonged, appreciated, and understood. Our source for the “religious/spiritual” aspect of the bibliography looked at the different rates on participation of hookup culture on Catholic universities vs. Protestant universities, both of which fall under the Christian faith. The research concluded that more hookups occurred on Catholic universities rather than Protestant universities (Burdette 2009). While it is worthwhile to have information on the differences of hookup cultures across Catholic and Protestant universities, other faiths that do not belong to Christianity, such as Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism (to name a few), were not included in the research or any other sources in the annotated bibliography.

To be completely honest, I’ve only ever had 1 real hookup experience that wasn’t a proper date, or that didn’t end in a committed monogamous relationship. That experience included myself and a guy at a friend’s party making out in the bathroom, and that’s really all that happened. We exchanged numbers, but we do not text, and whenever we do see each other in person, we keep it super casual and the extent of our conversations are just exchanging formalities. This follows what Lisa Wade writes in chapter 1 of her book, “American Hookup”. Chapter 1 is called “Hooking Up, a How-To”, and list various steps on how to have a clean hookup, and one of the steps gives information on how to distance yourself from that person, which says that if you were, “…acquaintances, they should act like strangers” (Wade 2017), and that’s exactly what myself and this guy do. Because I do not belong to any of the marginalized groups listed, I do not have experience in any hookups that involve those groups, let alone any experience at all since I’ve only ever participated in 1 hookup.

Over the past five weeks our class has focused on “hookup” culture and the definition of it. Along with the definition, we also came up with categories of what makes up hookup culture and for the 4th to 5th week we focused on “groups”. Our group focused primarily on the age range of hookup culture. Hookup culture technically has no age bounds, but in our opinion, the age range should be focused on college students because we are currently in that age range. The books by Bogle and Wade also both focus on college students which give us great sources to use for researching the topic of hookup culture.

One of our past homework assignments instructed us to watch either Friends with Benefits or No Strings Attached. In both of those movies, the ages of the characters are mid to later twenties. Either way, this is a new perspective to hookup culture for us because it is not college students in these stories. In the end of each story, the couples end up being more than just a “hookup” but that may be just because it is a story that needed endings like that and may not be what really happens.

For me, my college experience has shown that hookup culture is very much alive on campus. I have friends that actively participate in it. I think with our generation, people are definitely more open about the idea of hooking up, and with other guys, they are open about who they are hooking up with. This has been the case even since high school, but it gets more prominent in college because kids are finally living on their own. I know people that actively search to hookup after every night of going out, but I also have friends that have zero interest in it. It’s an odd thing with college students because it seems more of a type of game. Plenty of people that come here expect totally that they’re going to be hooking up all the time because they’re finally free, but it is totally opposite.

During the first couple in this course our class decided that “hookup” was defined as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. This is my personal definition of hookup as well. In the current hookup culture there is a big difference between a hookup and being intimate with someone that you are dating. You can say you hooked up with some buy from the bar, but you cannot say you hooked up with your boyfriend. I think this stems from the “no commitment” part of our definition, even though both experiences will be intimate and sexual, it doesn’t describe the act with a significant other because in that instance there is a commitment. It may also stem from our age group. As college students we have a very different vocabulary and world view than older generations. Our definition of a hookup may be warped from our experiences and our way of life. I feel like today it is much more common to just “casually” be in a relationship with someone and reap all of the sexual benefits as compared to our parents’ generation. I am 21 years old, single, and very much a part of the “hookup culture,” but at 22 my parents were married and pregnant with me.

I think the most interesting thing we have talked about while talking about groups is grinding. Most people in our class agreed that grinding is gross, it is a gross public display of affection. However, most of those who said that were white students who all go to Michigan State. One girl brought up that when she goes to a “white” party her and her friends find it odd that nobody is grinding; and another girl brought up that when she goes to a party with friends at the University of Michigan, all the Michigan students grind as well. So the lack of grinding could be seen as a racial or campus culture divide. It just goes to show that there are so many groups to take into consideration when talking about hookup culture. Each age group, race, geographic area, sexual orientation, gender, etc. all view certain things are norms and others as fringe behavior.

There is no “normal” way it just depends what groups you fall into. This topic is so interesting because I never considered that different groups hookup differently. I was so closed minded in the sense that I never considered that what me and my friends consider normal dating behavior may seem foreign to other groups of people. This unit on groups has really made me realize how important it is to talk the things that normally wouldn’t be talked about in “polite society.” I believe there would be less judgement and shame if everyone was able to talk about hooking up as openly as we do in this class instead of treating it as a taboo subject.

Personally, when I hear one of my friends say that they “hooked up” with someone, my mind automatically goes to “oh they had sex”. However, once I ask for more detail, I realize that that is not always the case. I have realized that the majority of the people that I have talked to, including some of my closest friends, do not imply sex when they talk about “hooking up”. When my friends talk about their “hookup” experiences they almost always mean making out or fooling around with someone, not necessarily having sex with someone. If they did, in fact, have sex, they would make sure to point that out. I do not think that the class definition or my personal definition of “hookup” culture specifically relates to the category of Groups. Groups does not specifically relate to the definitions of “hookup” culture because the definitions are not excluding any group. Different groups will have different values and different perspectives. This will cause different groups to have their own definitions specific to their own values.

In class these past two weeks we have talked a lot about how there are a lot more groups now than there were in the past. For example, we looked at pictures of “hookup” culture or parties from each decade since the 1960s in class. We found that in the earlier decades, “hookup” culture mainly consisted of one particular group. All the pictures from the earlier decades only included white men and women. There was hardly a picture of a different race or ethnicity. As we started progressing through the decades, “hookup” culture and parties became much more diverse. Also, the decade and generation that we were all raised in, makes it very common to have a lot of diversity, including race, ethnicity, and gender. As a generation, we are much more open to diversity and differences among our peers. For example, we are very open to the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. Where past generations were not open to diversity hardly at all.

One member of my group found an article that relates to the religious group. The article is titled “’Hooking up’ at College: Does Religion Make a Difference?” From my personal experience I have realized that religion is not talked about much anymore, especially on college campuses. Most of my friends grew up with a somewhat religious background, as did I. But as we got older and moved to MSUs campus, we are not as religious as we were when we were younger and lived with our parents. Being at college for almost two years, I have no met someone who is heavily invested in their religion and refuses to have pre-marital sex.

I do not have a lot personal experience being involved in “hookup” culture. I have noticed through my friend’s experiences that everyone person that they “hookup” with or have “hooked up” with is also in college and is around the same age that we are. I have noticed through experience being at college parties and the bars that everyone participating in “hookup” culture is in the same age range of around 18-22 years old. Also, everyone or almost everyone is in college, whether it is at MSU or another university.

The American “hookup” scene has been a changing movement for quite some time. When I saw the option to take this class – it was a no brainer. The term “hookup” has changed for me in during all of my different chapters in life. During the first week of class, we defined “hookup”. The only part of this definition I do not agree with is that the interaction is with 2+ people. I do not think a sexual interaction can be intimate with 2+ people. This class makes me think and reflect on my social life. For example, last weekend I saw the same guy pull the same moves on four different girls. I know the last girl he talked to, and they ended up hooking up. After picking her up in the morning, I asked her if she’d see him again and she said, “Ehh, probably not.” This is a perfect example on how the college hookup scene can be stereotyped as casual.

My team is currently conducting a survey on age and the college hookup scene. We’re interested to see the correlation between age and casual hookups. Wade makes strong remarks on men “playing the field” much longer than women. Women seek out relationships, whereas men aren’t going to go out of their way to find the “right girl”. We plan on surveying all different ages and genders at all different universities.

College has absolutely boosted my experience on hookup culture. My perspective has changed from an underclassman to an upperclassman. I’ve steered away from multiple hookups to only hooking up with the same person. Not only has it boosted my experience but has changed my personal definition. In high school, a hookup was intended as making out, whereas in college it refers to sex. I’m intrigued and excited to keep learning about the college hookup scene!

In the first couple of classes, it was interesting hearing what other classmates had in mind when they hear the wood ‘hookup’. For me, this word means having sex with someone and occurs only between two people. During my high school years, I remember one of my friends saying that she hooked up with this guy, but in reality, they had only kissed. To me, I would just say that I had made out with someone. I also want to discuss the word ‘intimate’ that we have in our definition. If I were to hook up with a guy, I wouldn’t use the word intimate. I would only use this word if I had feelings for someone or if I were in a relationship. ‘Intimate’ is a very romantic word in my opinion. It’s also interesting to note, relating to the group chapter that we have been discussing, that the majority of our class is white. So, does this factor have an influence on how we define “hookup” culture? Personally, I think it does. In Bogle’s book, she states, “nearly all of the people I interviewed were white (95 percent)… There is also a lack of diversity in terms of sexual preference” (Intro 6). So, most of her research is based on heterosexual white people. With how diverse the United States is today, it would be interesting to look into how different cultures view hookup culture, especially those underrepresented in the LGBTQ+ community. For me, someone who is uneducated under the LGBTQ+ community, I would like to learn about what hookup culture is like in their experiences, especially since it’s become widely accepted in the past couple of years.

When our class had a discussion about what hookup culture looked like in the past, I noticed a lot of images had a lack of diversity and representation of the LGBTQ+ spectrum. My grandmother, who is turning 90 soon, is still stuck in that era of not accepting interracial couples. Pictures from my high school prom weren’t sent to her based on the reason for me having a boyfriend that was African American. Since coming to college, I’ve never felt judged for hooking up with someone of a different race, but back then it was a huge deal. Sex is something that I feel has become more normalized to discuss with others. And when I mean others, I mean people my own age. I know our parents tell us to be safe and to keep us in the loop of our experiences, (maybe this is just my mom), but I have not once talked about my sex life to my mom. I’m not exactly sure how hookup culture has evolved, but I don’t think the older generations understand how apps are incorporated into today’s hookup culture. I’m not sure how others in the class feel about talking to others about their hookup, because everyone’s different and some people just aren’t comfortable talking about it. I definitely won’t be saying anything about my personal life to the class because even though Dr. Acevedo said that class is a no-judgment zone, I believe there’s going to be judgments in every situation. Everyone has their own specific beliefs and opinions, so it’s impossible for some people to respect others, which I completely understand.

My groupmates and I hadn’t discussed the group category besides what we eventually discussed in the next week in class. Instead of looking into LGBTQ+, (which we did in our first assignment) we discussed age and religion. One of my groupmates brought up the point of how Catholic schools around her went crazy for hookups. Since they are finally away from their parents, they tend to do things they weren’t able to before. It’d be interesting to see if we could interview different religions and see if this is a trend that a lot of college students follow. Another point that we want to look into is the age idea of hookup culture. Since we are young college students, most of the focus is on people aged 18-24, which is similar to what both Wade and Bogle discuss. What we don’t realize is that a lot of older couples, especially our grandparents’ age, are still hooking up. Since we are considered “experts” on this topic, it might be easier to delve into our ages, but it’s still important to include the fact that it’s not just our generation participating in this culture.

I’m not too comfortable going into detail about hookup culture in my life specifically, but I can talk about why some students my age participate in it. Personally, after going through a hard breakup, I decided to be the one in control of my emotions and make sure that I wasn’t the one getting attached. I told the guys that I was hooking up with that I wasn’t looking for a relationship and usually ignored them after I did. I felt like my last boyfriend had broken up with me because it had gotten to be too routine and boring, which is why I felt excitement meeting new people each time. I got to be the most interesting part of myself and be confident for the night and then never see them again. It’s almost like I changed myself because it felt good to cover up how I really was actually feeling. I never had the chance to grieve the end of my relationship. I just went straight into hookups. For a while, it worked, but eventually, my feelings caught up with me. Now, I’ve learned from this and want to better myself. I’m not sure if other students can relate to why they participate in hookup culture, but my idea of why is because sometimes they are hurting from a past relationship and just want to feel in control of their emotions.

To me, I feel this is the best way to describe hook up in a way that includes the majority of people’s views. However, I personally don’t love that we chose to use intimate. I don’t know if I feel that every hookup is intimate. In my definition hooking up does mean more than kissing. However, I think that this is something that, for me and my friends, has to do with age and experience. When I was in high school hooking up meant kissing and if things had gone past that most people would say so. As we got older and participated more in hookup culture kissing became less of an ‘intimate’ thing and therefore hooking up rose to a different level.

The thing that was most interesting to me was the idea of how men and women view hooking up as displayed in Bogle’s text Hooking Up . Bogle talks about how women want relationships whereas men want something more casual. While I think this can be true sometimes, I think the text is a bit outdated. I think that as our society has changed women have started to become more confident in allowing themselves to enjoy the things they want. For many women, I think that means causal sex. I also think that hooking up has become more normalized and while women, in my opinion, are more shamed for it than men there is overall less stigma around the act.

The main group my team talked about during this chapter focus was religion. Our group has people who are very religious and people who aren’t religious at all, so we were able to discuss or differences which I found quite interesting. One thing that I found interesting was the way that my public school vs a religious school taught sex ed. Might be very positively framed just giving us facts that can help us protect ourselves vs the religious school had little to none and when sex was talked about it was shamed.

As I mentioned earlier, hook up culture has changed for me as I’ve gotten older. It started as simply making out and progressed to more for me personally. I do think that being a part of both groups in and out of the Greek community have formed my view on hook up culture. I think campus does support the continuation of hook up culture, but I don’t personally think of that as a bad thing. I think it’s amazing that more people are sexually confident in our generation and don’t feel shame about it. I think different generations will always have different views but, in my experiences, I feel that I view hook up culture very similarly to my classmates.

Throughout the past few weeks we have developed and discussed what hookup culture is. I really related to the class definition of “hookup” because it personally followed my beliefs of hooking up. Not only this, but I also believe that the definition of hooking up is fluid and that also relates to my definition. I think that the definition being fluid allows individuals to identify and find their place inside the culture. This allows for everyone to connect on some level within the community. This all leads back to the connection people want from others.

I really enjoyed the reading in Wade’s book because it gave an example of a script for hookup culture. This shows that while yes there is a way to do it but people don’t learn this right away. Trial and error leads to people developing their hookup script and getting involved with the culture. Without these past experiences some people may never get involved within the scene. I can relate to this because I had to work and develop my script throughout my experiences. While I can relate to the script, I thought that the idea of grinding being gross was interesting. One thing that I thought was a normal occurrence in the culture was actually a controversy and made me think where I stand in the culture. While I’m still not set with this idea, I want to continue to think about this and learn other differences with people in the culture.

One thing that was really interesting to me is that people get upset by hookup culture.

This was really interesting to me because it shows that not everyone understands the rules of hooking up. What made me notice this is when Owen from Wade’s novel complains about being used. This has never been a concern of mine throughout my experiences and I feel this is because I understand what a hook up is. This is why I feel hookups become complicated because not everyone is on the same page.

For the first two weeks of class, our class as a whole (along with Dr. Acevedo) created a definition of “hookup” that we believed to best fit how we describe or define it today. The definition that we came up with was “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” In the past two weeks, we looked at a specific category and this biweekly category was “Groups.” Some of the subcategories we came up with as a class were religious, spiritual, LGBTQ, minorities, global view and age range. One of the things our team was focused on was that of age range. Personally, it seems like age that most people have been hooking up has been consistent over the past 50-70 years. Although the definition of “hooking up” may have changed, I believe that the age has remained quite consistent. Something I think that may be disconnected from my personal view of “hooking up” would be the part about commitment. I feel as though when we are younger (high school age or lower), hooking up with someone generally comes with commitment. Although when we enter university, I believe that hooking up can come without commitment, but as for the younger people hooking up, I think there is generally some sort of commitment. For me, I do agree with the definition that our class constructed and usually do not feel commitment when “hooking up” with someone.

Something that really resonated with me from this week’s discussions/readings is something from the reading in Bogle’s book (2008). Bogle goes into discussing how fraternity membership and sporting team affiliation is especially valued for men in college. One of the interviewees said that “fraternity men have more opportunities for sexual encounters with women.” (Bogle, 2008.) This especially stood out to me because I myself have been in a fraternity for all four years I have been at Michigan State. Although it seems very “classic” that fraternity guys seem to be the ones hooking up the most with women in college, I see it to be true. The key word I think is “opportunities”. When you are in a fraternity, you usually go to the frat parties (at the house) when you are an underclassman (freshman and sophomores). In that time, you are usually meeting girls your age and becoming friends/creating groups of friends. A lot of the time, you are usually having one night stands with the people you meet. Once of age and all of your friends are going to the bars, you already have a large group of people, specifically women, that you know at the bar and you don’t have to reach out to meet new people. Having this large group of peers that you are already familiar with gives you much more of an opportunity to “hookup” with someone that you already know. I would say this group/membership is one that resonates with me the most because I am part of this group. As for the other subcategories we came up with for groups, it’s hard for me to understand “hooking up” in them. I believe it’s hard because I don’t really fit into any of those groups being a heterosexual white man. Although I am very understanding of the people and views in these groups, it’s hard for me to see the personal side of them.

One of the key points that we looked at as a team was the music side of “hookup” culture. I believe that music plays an extremely important role in “hookup” culture. The way that music has evolved and become so sexual has definitely influenced the view of “hooking up” in today’s culture. One of the things that comes into mind is looking at music from past generations like we did in class on Thursday. When you google “1960’s hookup music” it’s hard to even find a song about people hooking up or having sex. What most search results yield are songs about love and loving or missing someone. If you look up “2010 hookup/sex playlist” the results are endless. There are THOUSANDS of playlists between Spotify, YouTube and apple music that have something to do with hooking up or sex in the title of the playlist. This isn’t because we are hooking up more often now, but because music has changed so much that almost every other song talks about having sex with someone or a one-night stand (okay that was a little bit exaggerated but still). For example, here is a playlist on YouTube titled “Best Baby Making Songs Everrr!!” that has over 150 songs from the 2000’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzSITRewmw&list=PLbEsyI-DzbixUUWRktefnKxOXE-YleIIh . If you take a listen, it is so obvious how music has changed and how that changed has definitely influenced “hookup” culture today.

As for personal experiences in “hooking up”, I have had my fair share of one-night stands and “hookups” in college thus far. In fact, at one point I was considered a “man whore” by my male friends, but that was cool with them. To the female crowd, being a man whore isn’t the best reputation to have. Don’t get me wrong, “hooking up” with different people almost every weekend was fun, but after a few years it gets real old. At some point in time, I don’t care who you are, you want to seek something real and genuine.

Our class definition of “hookup” culture is that “hookup” culture is a consensual, intimate, interaction that is sexual between two or more people without commitment. Although this definition covers a lot of the aspects of “hookup” culture because of its broadness, I feel as though the definition does not do justice to everyone individually. Everyone has their own definition of “hooking up” and “hookup” culture, so I feel as though our class definition wouldn’t apply to every group or person. Me personally, I can connect to this definition when I think of “hooking up” I think of sexual intercourse of kind between people who are not together. I do not partake in “hook up” culture anymore but the experience is not always intimate or intimate at all, but everyone’s situation is different. For example, someone who is old school may think “hooking up” could be anything from making out to sexual activities, while most people in my generation define “hooking up” as having sex with no commitment just like in our class definition.

Something that resonated with me is that in our day and age “hookup” culture is so normalized in our society especially in young teens and college students. In a book written by Donna Freitas, she surveyed a large sample size of college students from secular, religious, and private colleges. Here conclusions showed that students hooking up resulted from boredom, loneliness, and isolation (Freitas 2013). Students began to accept that’s how college is and stopped seeking real long-term relationships with one another. This being the reality of college relationships is sad to me because this behavior is not ok to me. It gets people’s feelings hurt and I believe this causes people to not have successful long-term relationships and marriages in the future.

Some key points in one of my group’s external source was that LGBTQ have a hard time navigate “hookup” culture that is majority heteronormative. Navigating Campus Hookup Culture: LGBTQ Students and College Hookups by Ellen Lamont researches how members of the LGBTQ community partake in a culture that they are the minority in. Within them being the minority racial minorities are not represented in her research which does not give fair or accurate data or all cases.

My personal past experiences with hookup culture were not great experiences. Going into them using our class and my own definition I never really looked at them as hookups. I always thought that person and I would be together so I was just a onetime thing or casual sex (except once). I look back often wishing I never let those situations happen and respected myself more and wasn’t so gullible. Although I consented, I regret letting myself get to that level with someone who didn’t deserve it. I don’t like the concept of hookup culture because that’s how feelings get hurt and people have a hard time opening up and trusting.

One of the first tasks we were asked to complete for this class was to come up with solid definition of a ‘hookup’ as it relates to our college lives. This seemed easier than it turned out to be due to the mix of opinions and experiences that every class member had. In the end we did create our own definition that generally encompasses the class’s ideas and experiences. The definition of hookup that we created in class seems a little long winded for me and my personal ideas but I don’t have any major problems with the standing definition as it seems to cover all the bases. The only part that I seem to wonder about is the ‘sexual’ interaction. I feel like sexual can also be a slippery term to use because I don’t think a hookup can only be sex, but again I don’t have a better way to phrase it so this seems as good a definition as any to use going forward.

One big piece of information that I read in Hooking Up by Kathleen Bogle was that this generation has sex about as often as our parent’s generation did, which really changed the way I thought about the culture as a whole. This means that either past generations were purposely downplaying their sexuality or this generation has a habit of over inflating our sexuality, or even both. It’s very interesting to see how these ideas can change even in the scheme of the hookup culture as a whole. Many college students probably wouldn’t guess that their parents hooked up as much as they do now, but that could just be clouded judgment because nobody really wants to think about their parents engaging in the hookup culture of their day. This fact could also have come from a misunderstanding of the definition of hooking up because as we’ve already seen within our class, everyone has a different personal definition of hooking up and it could change entirely through a couple generations.

As a group we were able to find sources for each of the categories that were chosen as topics for the book. For the Social/Communicative section we chose a graph that displays correlations between different substance use and the type of interaction that happened as a result. This graph was created by the Psychology Today website which we see fit for research as a scholarly site. This graph displays a surprising percentage of people who use alcohol on the first encounter with a person usually are doing so as part of a hookup. This data would normally be implied but it is helpful to be able to see the entire scope of how the rest of this culture engages with substances as part of hooking up. We also chose to use the Bogle book to learn and write about the Groups section in our book. We chose this as our source because it seems to cover related topics such as the age range that is engaging in hookup culture, as well as the history of hookup culture in reference to groups.

In terms of my own involvement in hookup culture I would say that I never go out of my way to hookup or push something that may not otherwise happen, but even without that there are still plenty of instances of people being predisposed to hookup culture and assuming that I would want to hookup without knowing the person at all. For me it is almost entirely situational, in other words I would rather get to know someone before taking them home but there have been times where that isn’t necessary for me due to use of substances.

The class definition of “hookup” culture states that ‘“hookup’ culture is a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” From our class discussions and from what we’ve both researched and learned so far in class, I mostly agree with that definition now. However, before this class, I’ve always thought that hooking up was just a wide term for any kind of sexual act with another person, whether you’re in a committed relationship or not. One of the groups. I’m associated with is religion. I grew up Roman Catholic and went to Catholic school up until I was 10 and then I did Sunday school until I was in 8th grade. The religion was pushed on me for a long time and heavily influenced parts of adolescence, including my experience with sex. I didn’t learn what sex was until long after most other people my age due to the lack of sex education and the taboo of it within that culture. I think this led to my belief that hooking up was a general term of sex or anything sexual or intimate. It received such a negative connotation within the church that I believed that anyone who did anything remotely close to what could be called hooking up before being married committed a deadly sin that there was no coming back from. Since my young days in the Catholic Church, I have evolved into someone who now knows this isn’t true and can more closely align myself with the class definition of hookup culture.

Through Bogle’s and Wade’s texts, I was able to better understand other’s perspectives on hookup culture, especially compared to my own. It especially opened my eyes to the difference between men and women’s experience within “hookup” culture and how religious undertones are present without those taking part in the culture even realizing. This is especially evident in Bogle’s text. In chapter 6 of Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus , Bogle collects multiple interviews from men and women discussing how they feel about relationships and hooking up (2008). Many of the women feel like they need that commitment between the two and struggle to get it. Men, however, feel as though they don’t want a relationship and just want carefree encounters. Commitment within sexual relationships is pushed on women in our society, especially within religious societies. It’s heavily stressed within the Catholic Church that women shall remain pure and should not fall into lust, especially with someone they are not married to. While this is an old idea, it still plays a part in our society, which I believe is part of the reason why women feel pressured to turn hookups into relationships.

My group has two different sources that relate to the group category. Our first one is a research article on religion. Within this article, Burdette states that women who are Catholic are more likely to have hooked up while in school, whereas women who are Protestant were actually less likely than an average nonreligious person to hook up while at school (2009). Women who attend schools with a Catholic Church affiliation were also more likely to hook up compared to women who attend schools with no affiliation. The other source our group came up with is an infographic showing different sexual orientation/gender identity groups and how they make up and are involved in the “lesbian” hookup culture community (Riese 2018). A heavy majority are cisgender women, but there are some transgender women, non-binary/genderqueer women, and non-binary/genderqueer people. Most people involved identify as lesbian, but there are those who identify as queer, bi, pansexual, and gay as well.

One of my standout experiences within hookup culture and the religious group I fall into was when I lost my virginity. I did it at 14 with an older boy who clearly looking back at it, was using me for sex. I didn’t realize at the time because I fell into that fantasy of believing I would marry the boy I lost my virginity to because that’s what the Catholic church made it seem like it would be. Up until that point, I really didn’t know what sex was or what exactly happened because of the lack of sex education. When my dad found out months later, he told me how disappointed he was and how he wouldn’t have married my mom if he knew she slept with someone before him because it was ungodly. He didn’t talk to me for two months after this. This conversation and the Catholic religion have put a sense of guilt in me now anytime I hookup with someone or even have sex with someone that I’m in a committed relationship with. It has also made me make riskier decisions with sex in college because I’m no longer around my parents or that strict Catholic environment. Being away from it all and in college has allowed me to expand both my definition of “hookup” culture and overall knowledge about sex, while also allowing me to feel more comfortable talking about it.

From weeks 4 to 5 of the course we discussed hookup culture in relation to groups. As a class we identified category elements such as religious, spiritual, LGBTQ+, minorities, and age range. Overall, I think the definition of “hookup” culture is consistent throughout each group. Of course everyone has their own personal definition of hookup culture as seen through the lengthy discussion we had as a class to attempt to define it. Our class decided to define “hookup” culture as a consensual intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. I like how the term sexual could include anything from kissing to sex. It’s great for people of different ages who some view hooking up as sex and some view as just kissing. I also think the definition is great in not specifying male/female to include the LGBTQ+ community.

The class discussion of grinding perhaps being related to African American culture really resonated with me. As a white female I have experienced black males wanting to grind. Of course white males as well but particularly I have seen it more prevalent in the black community. I am a part of Greek life and agreed on the points other Greek life students brought up that grinding can be seen as “gross” or “creepy” and not something to do at a social. For those of you who don’t know, a social is when a frat invites another sorority over to a party so the people at that party are exclusively from the same frat and same sorority (sometimes with the exception of friends). I honestly think Greek Life could be a category of its own as there are so many rules and norms around it…maybe part of the social/communicative group. Anyways, I would never grind at a social and would judge my friends if they did although for example at Lou Has I wouldn’t even think twice about it. I never thought of it in a cultural way before but perhaps that is why it is less “acceptable” in one scenario compared to the other. Grinding could be a gateway to hooking up although I do not believe everyone who grinds hooks up.

Our team’s external sources include two printed books surrounding the category of groups. One talked about hookup culture on catholic campuses. I found it interesting because I grew up in a very catholic family. Whenever I am home, I go to mass every Sunday with my family. Although, my catholic upbringing does not influence my perspective or participation in hookup culture. I have actively participated in hookup culture since I was like 16. The only influence religion has had on me is the lack of communication about sex with my mom and her view against birth control. The text researched 26 different college campuses and surveyed over 1,000 students and revealed their perceptions of hookup culture as well as their participation. It was interesting to see that I was able to relate with some of their thoughts. The next source analyzed hookup culture of LGBTQ+ college students with data from 24 personal interviews. It is not a surprise research of the college hookup culture is heavily centered around heterosexual relationships so the source aimed to provide data how LGBTQ+ students navigate hookups on college campuses. This was interesting to me since I have limited previous knowledge due to the group I personally identify with.

In class we discussed how the thought of marriage is not really on anyone’s mind in college, and especially not for guys. I know military couples get judged all the time, because I used to be the girl looking at them and judging and now, I happen to be in one. My boyfriend signed a contract with the army for eight years, meaning long distance for a very long time. We’ve talked about marriage and that we would have to be dating for a much longer time and it would have to be much later in our lives when we are financially independent and settled in our careers. So here is a college guy thinking about marriage probably more than I think about it. Anyways, he leaves at the end of May so I have to evaluate if my relationship is worth putting myself through long distance for that long. I think my situation puts me in a different mindset when it comes to hookup culture. As a freshman and really up until I started dating my current boyfriend last semester, I had lots of fun participating in the hookup culture and did not want any commitments. I literally told my boyfriend when we started talking “yeah I’m not looking for anything serious” and look at me now lol. Something literally so insane relating to age range; last year I met a mutual friend at Harpers. We ended up going home together and hooked up for a few months after that. I was 19 at the time and he told me he was 23. Later he mentioned he played football at Albion so naturally I looked it up online and there was an article with his birth date. He was actually 28. Personally, I feel like that age range would be over the college hookup scene but I guess not.

As someone who doesn’t often participate in a college’s “hookup culture,” I believe our definition really grasps what a hookup is. The act of the hookup to me is sort of like a healthy (or unhealthy at times) act/exchange that benefits both parties, which our definition basically encapsulates. I like how our final definition adds the “without commitment” bit because hookup culture has definitely changed generationally, and there are more people who have intercourse before marriage. Now that we’ve gone more in depth with the groups, specifically religion, I’ve noticed that I have personally drifted away from religion as times go on. There are both bad and good things about this because I guess the drift from religion allows me to learn more about myself and my likings without the constant shame that would often come with religion. I still have my morals and I can distinguish between what’s right and wrong from my base of religion when I was younger, but I’ve sort of grown out of it. I also feel like the LGBTQ+ community isn’t really talked about but I think that’s just because that has been accepted so recently, so I’m excited to see where this community goes as time goes on.

I liked how we recently brought up our upbringings/families because that does play a huge role in how we act and that goes for everyone. That really resonated with me because I wasn’t really religious but neither are my parents. My parents were sort of the first exposure I had to love and they showed me a partnership with their marriage so they were good role models, but they did get a divorce and personally that affected me a lot and it sort of changed my whole viewpoint on marriage; their actions are sort of like “red flags” for me today and they tell me that commitment is a really serious step and that I shouldn’t have to rush in it. I love my parents and they are my biggest supporters because I can talk to them about anything. Their advice and recommendations really are to prevent history from repeating itself.

Our team hasn’t really used external resources besides the novels that we’ve read in class other than our outside resource for our survey/interview. From the novels that we have read, Bogle’s hookup novel and Wade’s ​ American Hookup ​ discuss religion a bit, but more so the “steps” that one can take if they’re trying to do the dirty (2017). I guess the novels that we’ve read in class don’t really cover all subcategories of groups, such as sex globally, LGBTQ community, and some different cultures, but I believe it’s just hard to get accurate data from these subcategories just cause some people aren’t willing to talk about it or there just aren’t people conducting the right surveys/asking the right questions.

My personal experiences with the “hookup culture” definitely developed while in college because of the new environment, the new sense of dependency that I didn’t have in high school, and my friends were participating in it so I was basically like “why not?” There was no pressure or me to have sex, but I just kept it in the back of my mind because it was ok to have sex if I wanted to. Religion doesn’t play an important part as it used to, but that’s just me personally because I never really truly believed it because it seemed really constricting.

With this week’s focus being on “Groups,” our class defined hookup culture as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2 or more people without commitment. I feel as though this is a quite fair description of the general feeling of my generation’s definition for hookup culture. However, my own personal definition is much simpler: acting on consensual “skinful” lust. There is a huge difference in my eyes between hooking-up and having sex. When a couple, or more, has sex, there are a variety of intense and intimate feelings that are involved. However, when people are hooking-up it does not have much feeling behind it. It is merely a physical action that brings physical pleasure to all involved. So, in my opinion, this is how my definition of hook-up culture differs from how the class defines it.

The history of groups in hook-up culture that stuck out to me made me really think of the discrimination that the LGBTQ+ community has faced throughout history. While there has been some progress made in the rights and societal acceptance of this particular group, there is still a lot of room to be made. There is still less than half of the states that provide legal protection to this group, including workplace discrimination, eviction rules and refusal of services (“All we want is Equality,” 2018). This is so morally wrong and unacceptable; we as people have no right to tell other human beings who they can have and show feelings for. I just cannot understand the mindset behind telling someone that who they love is not acceptable or at some points-in-time even illegal. Just allow people to live their lives without having to dictate every decision that they make. Another group that sprung to mind in regard to the hookup culture is the LGBTQ+ minority population. I feel like this is a group that is not talked about or represented in any of the readings we have covered.

The main key points that my group has gathered in relation to groups have come from the books that we have been reading, along with the book “ Youth Sexualities” written by Susan Talburt and Janice Irvine. In “ Youth Sexualities” there is a large emphasis placed on how the group of women experiences a disproportionate amount of shame (Talburt 2018). It goes on to discuss how they are shamed by friends for sleeping with a number of people, when guys are praised for being a “player” and how they are perceived as more cool then guys that do not sleep with a number of people. Another text that my group is utilizing for research that has given us an insight to groups is “ The End of Sex” written by Donna Freitas. The main group that it has been discussing is young people that are exploring the hookup culture. So far, the findings are outlining the psychological impact on this group, and how they find hooking-up with people to not be pleasing or fulfilling emotionally (Freitas 2013). While it may work for some people, it clearly is not working for a lot of other people. Yet, this s the general mindset people my age has about hooking up, that it is not something serious or meaningful. Therefore, those that are looking for commitment are the group that is suffering. They are looking for more than people my age are willing to give. Ultimately, there more research that needs to be completed but these texts have been very enlightening and informational so far.

My own personal experiences within the hookup culture, specifically within the group perspective, were quite surprising to me. Originally, I did not think that I belonged to many groups at all, I am a straight white male so what groups would I be a part of? However, through taking this class I have been reflecting on some other aspects of my own personal experiences that involve me in groups. I have been completely sober for a year-and-a-half now, so I can no longer relate to the class discussion regarding using substances for hookups. I started exploring the hookup culture at the age of sixteen, and until I was about twenty, alcohol and other substances did indeed play a large role in the hookup circles I was a part of. However, I am still active in the hookup culture now without substances and the lesson I have taken from that is how just random hookups can feel more intimate without the crutch of alcohol and other substances. So, I am a part of a sober group within the hookup culture community, along with being a part of the straight community. Another group that is not discussed too much in class that I am a part of would be “fetish” group. Exploring personal kinks is not something that I find taboo, whether it is wax-play, role-play, or other more “out there” kinks. However, people do not talk about this much at all, and I do not understand why. I wonder if societal shame plays a part, or if people are simply embarrassed about it. These are my own personal experiences with groups within the hookup culture, and I am sure that more will come to light throughout taking this class.

I believe our class definition is very close to my personal definition of “hookup”. Many of the things such as “consensual” and “brief” really describe it from my personal standpoint. The one main thing I would disagree with due to personal preference is the statement in which we concluded that hookups can be 2 or more people at the time of the hookup. For me personally that isn’t considered hooking up to me. I believe that is the only skewed description for our class definition although it does a great job including and broadening the hookup culture due to others preferring more than one person. Another thing that could be included is the idea of texting the next day. As I think the next day is actually the most important phase of the hookup due to the sober dealings of all the events that happened that prior night. Sometimes the most feared part is the next day as well due to people worrying about the opinions of others and wondering if this will be a recurring thing or just one time. The tension created by this “next day” phase sometimes outweighs even dealing with the hookup in the first place. Therefore, making the next day important.

The steps were one thing that resonated with me when we spoke about them last week. One thing that I’ve had previous experience with is watching people grind and the consequences to that. Mostly in the Greek community if a guy and girl are grinding on each other they are sent to standards which is the “party police” and then they will be given a punishment such as a fine or social probation for a couple of socials. The next day after all that is ironed out the people who carried out the act normally regret the decision mainly because they are sober, but also because it isn’t worth it to grind for a $50 fine when they could have gone somewhere else and handled their business not in the sight of everyone at the party resulting in everyone around them feeling uncomfortable. Another previous experience is the fact that many times a “pregame” with the person you end up hooking up with does not happen. Although there is always a pregame, that’s just not where you and the other person interact and lead into the hookup from. Many times you will hit them with a text message or post on your story the location of what bar you will be at that night. Then hoping they will respond to either a text or a public story on snapchat you then hope it will lead to something else. I find that is the best scenario due to both of them being able to act like they weren’t planning on hooking up rather that it just happened. The other steps we discussed weren’t too bad, but I felt the biggest flaws were the grinding and the pregame.

Many of the personal experiences that have been discussed during the class in regards to hookup culture are pretty spot on. The music one of my classmates played is very spot on to the reality of actual hook up culture. While many people in relationships may not play music, but during a hook up to take out any awkwardness that type of music is played. Another factor that is not taken into account is the type of bar you go to for the night really determines if you will be hooking up and what type of hook up you are looking for. Some people in the Greek community prefer not to go to “harpers” due to the number of ties they have there and that the hookup may not be able to happen due to the previous history with the guys/girls there. Some may go to other bars due to the crowd being considered “older” and that crowd will be more mature and a little less likely to hook up. So I feel that factor is extremely important and often overlooked from my experience.

For the past two weeks, my IAH 231B class and I have been researching and talking about how the group category is involved in the topic of “hookup” culture. Because we all decided that groups play a pretty big role in “hooking up” we decided to make that a chapter of our book that will be completed at the end of the semester. Before we talked about our categories or chapters in our book, my peers and I we challenged with a question: What is your definition of a “hookup”? This question seems like a pretty straightforward question and it seems like my generation could answer this fairly easily. But, after thinking of answers that could possibly satisfy my classroom of 53 people it seemed difficult to come to a solid answer that everyone was okay with. After a long discussion, we finally came up with an answer that involved everyone’s input on what the “hookup” culture really is. “Hookup” culture is a consensual and intimate interaction that is sexual and is between two or more people without any prior or current commitment to each other. In other words, it is a casual interaction between people in a sexual manner. To me, this definition completely matches my personal definition to “hooking up” and I think it really relates to our topic from the past two weeks which is the group category.

My group and I really talked about how the different gender groups are affected by the “hookup” culture. In Kathleen Bogles text, Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus, she talks about how females are negatively affected by participating in the “hookup” culture as opposed to how men are not affected in the same way. Sadly, I agree with how she wrote about the genders. Females are affected and treated differently in our world especially when it comes to exploring our sexuality. We are constantly shamed and looked down upon because of what we decide to do with our bodies. This topic really resonated with me because I see shaming of women based off of “hooking up” often. Whether it involves name calling or even just talking about someone in a negative way, it happens quite a lot.

In my group for assignment #1 we used a video source and an article for social/ communitive and groups. I really liked the article we used for social/ communitive because it talked about the social scene such as different parties and bar settings as a part of Greek life social events. Because Greek life is a fairly big thing on college campuses, I think it is important to consider them as a group. In Greek life, “hooking up” seems to be something that is very relevant in the social scene. These two topics intersect in a way that is pretty interesting. It is common to associate drinking and partying but what about the social groups that participate in both? It seems to open a conversation about how different groups interact with their sexual preference at social settings.

My personal experiences of “hooking up” with others goes back to my freshman year of college. I obviously came in as a new student and wanted to make a few friends. Because of this, I joined Greek life and really focused on making new friends. Because I met many new people, including some guys, I ended up “hooking up” with a few people. I personally think that this is more than okay to do and is pretty common in the college life. Now, since I have made connections from the past few years, I have a boyfriend and I don’t consider us “hooking up” mostly because I have been with him for a while and the definitions does not match what I do with my boyfriend.

For this first reflective narrative I want to examine the class’ definition of “hookup” and how it differs from or is similar to my own. I’m going to break the definition down into its parts, describing what I think is meant by each part, stating whether said ‘parts’ are also in my definition of “hookup,” and finally coming to some conclusion about the similarity or difference between the two definitions and discussing implications.

The class’ definition reads, “‘hookup’ culture is a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” The first descriptor used in the definition is “consensual.” By consensual, I think the class means that both parties involved in the hookup, whether that be a man and a woman, two women, two men, or maybe even three or more people, engage in the hookup willingly. I believe “consensual” means that no kind of coercion is involved, and that either person involved in the hookup wants to participate. I think the reasons for participation can vary quite a bit, and that some may participate not because of genuine interest in hooking up, but because of social pressure and belief that “this is what college students do.” However, the reason a person participates in the hookup, unless for fear of retaliation by the other person, has no bearing on whether the hookup is consensual. This part of the class’ definition certainly aligns with my own. I believe the moment one of the parties in the hookup indicates that they do not want to continue, and the other party does not comply, the hookup becomes nonconsensual. I’ve “hooked up” before, and somewhere between the start and end of the hookup have decided I wasn’t that into it, however; I still consider these instances consensual because I did not voice my disinterest, nor did I make any attempts to stop the hookup from continuing. Although it’s rather taboo to think of consent as nuanced, situations like the one I described above (I think) show that things are not always so black and white when it comes to consent. I think some would categorize the situation I described as nonconsensual. Again, the moment one of the parties in the hookup indicates that they do not want to continue, and the other party does not comply, the hookup becomes nonconsensual. But sometimes this indication isn’t made, and other times, perhaps, it isn’t made clear enough. Admittedly, though, it’s hard to think of things one could say or do to signal a desire to stop the hookup that would not be perceived or understood by the partner, especially given the intimate nature of “hooking up.” All in all, I agree that a “hookup” is consensual.

The next two descriptors that are used in the class’ definition are “intimate” and “sexual.” I find it interesting that the class uses the two terms separately. To me, something that is sexual is already intimate, and so I would describe it as just “sexual.” I think of intimacy as close involvement between two people. Not all things that are intimate are sexual, such as cuddling or even dinner at a nice restaurant, but all things that are sexual are intimate. So, I’m left wondering what is meant by “intimate” in the class definition. Maybe it’s just redundant and no one really noticed, but its presence there makes me believe it was intended to add something to the definition. Maybe it’s getting less at literal, physical intimacy, and more at romance, the kind of psychological connection. That is interesting to me, because I would not say that I’ve had this kind of experience with any of the people I’ve hooked up with. All of the people I’ve hooked up with I’ve met on dating apps, so that could play a role. Maybe the rise of hooking up through social media has led to fewer sexual encounters based on psychological intimacy? That would make sense- it’s much more difficult to gage whether you “click” with someone through a screen. Yes, you can converse with a potential “hookup” through apps like tinder, but for the most part you’re making a physical judgment. This is why, for me, hookups only really include the physical intimacy, and not so much the psychological.

The last part of the class’ definition states that a hookup involves two or more people and that it is without commitment. I grouped these two parts of the definition together, because I didn’t feel both warranted their own sections of this narrative. In terms of the number of people involved in the hookup, I’ve never been a part of one that included more than two people (including myself), but I know that these kinds of hookups do happen. Therefore, this part of the definition, while not necessarily applying to my sex life, is consistent with what I think “hookup” can mean. The last part of the class’ definition states that a hookup is without commitment. “Without commitment,” to me, means that after the hookup has taken place, both parties have no obligation to communicate with or associate with the other. I think another important aspect of this part of the definition is the idea of nonexclusively. This could even be the most distinct part of the hookup definition as it is what distinguishes a “hookup” from a committed relationship. I think this part of the definition is also the most commonly agreed upon. Although some hookups may vary in terms of the aspects of the definition discussed in the preceding paragraphs, I believe few people would describe a relationship built around “hooking up” (assuming the classes definition) as exclusive. I would say this is true of my definition of “hooking up” as well.

Now that I’ve parsed out the class’ definition of “hookup” and enumerated similarities and differences between it and my own definition, I want to discuss how this relates to the categories “social/communicative” and “groups.” Something I touched on earlier is the influence that hooking up through social media has had on the “hookup” and my personal experience of it. I think I’ve felt this influence particularly strongly, because I am a gay male. For straight people, social opportunities, which become hookup opportunities, aren’t hard to find. There are many bars in East Lansing, not to mention frat and house parties that are heterosexual-dominated. This isn’t surprising as a much greater percentage of the general population identifies as heterosexual, compared to those who identify as homosexual, bisexual, or other sexual orientations. Of course, there may be students in the LGBTQ+ community who host parties, the attendees of which are mainly other students in the LGBTQ+ community, but these opportunities are difficult to find if, like me, you’re a gay person with mainly straight friends. Comfortability with one’s sexuality, both for oneself and for the community at large, are also barriers to these kinds of opportunities. That is why, at least for me, any kind of hookup is arranged through the use of dating apps. That is also why, in my experiences, the hookup does not usually involve that intangible, human connection that was included in the class’ definition. If you’re a frat brother, at a frat party, at which females largely outnumber males, there are 1) many opportunities to find that kind of psychological intimacy and 2) quick and easy ways to determine if that intimacy is present with any one female- body language, eye contact, verbal cues, etc. Of course, many straight people still use dating apps, but party scenes enable one to take the hookup from purely physical to mental, at least more so than the chat feature of a dating app does. Yes, one can arrange to meet with someone through a dating app and then attain the psychological intimacy upon meeting in-person, but I believe it is less organic in this scenario because it is assumed ahead of time that sex is going to happen. I think, for straight people, dating apps supplement the party scene in terms of hooking up, but for those identifying with other sexual orientations, dating apps comprise the majority of hookup opportunities.

To summarize, my definition is almost the exact same as the class’ definition, but certain aspects differ, namely, the inclusion of non-physical intimacy. I believe this difference stems from my sexual orientation which has affected the social vehicle through which I participate in hookup culture. Investigation into whether this is common across all members of the LGBTQ+ community could provide a clearer of true population differences, with respect to hookup culture.

When I was searching for an upper level IAH to take and finish as a university requirement, I was interested in the definition of this class. I had heard of the word “hookup” before however was not really sure what “hookup culture” meant. For that reason, I enrolled in the class and was eager to learn on a new and relevant subject. During the first few weeks of class we came up with a definition for hookup culture. The definition we chose as a class was, “Hookup” culture is a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. After speaking more on the topic and coming up with different categories as well as beginning to read from our assigned books I can relate to our class definition. I connect with our definition because I believe hooking up with someone needs to be consensual. I also agree that a hookup is sexual and intimate. The only part of the definition that is questionable to me is the commitment part. I feel like friends with benefits or a “hookup” with someone more than a few times requires a pact and some type of commitment.

What resonated with me the most over this week’s lectures and discussions was how every person has their own definition for hooking up. This was seen throughout class discussions as well as through the Bogle and Wade readings. I thought it was interesting how in one of the books I can’t remember which, the author talked about how this “hookup” culture came to be and how it changed over time at universities.

My team conducted research in the categories consensual, shame, religious/spiritual, social/communicative, group, social media, music, psychological and feminism team plans on conducting interviews in the future to gather more information. The research that I focused on was the music category. I choose this category because I think it is an important part of hooking up. For me music sets the mood and helps each person relax.

Personally, I can relate to “Hookup” culture since starting college. Being a junior now I can consider myself as more experienced. I have also become more confident in myself since coming to MSU. My perspective has changed a bit from freshmen year to now. Freshmen year I had a girlfriend for a bit but realized that the commitment wasn’t there. Now instead I prefer participating in “hookup culture”. I believe that by participating in “hookup” culture I have learned more about myself in the process as well.

Our definition of hookup culture is a definition I do not necessarily agree with. On the basis of groups, we learned about religious groups, minorities, LGBTQ, among other groups of people. In my group, we discussed the different groups we identified with. We had many discussions about what made us similar and what made us different and we experienced different groups through our conversations. Our definition of hookup culture made sense with the groups we learned about because our definition was very inclusive. We did not define hookups as between a man and a woman or people of the same race. It was a very inclusive definition that allows for interpretation. I believe groups are the easiest way to relate to our definition based on what we came up with. I do not necessarily agree with our definition exactly based on my experiences though. Personally, I do not identify with most of the groups we learned about. I am religious, but not in a way that prevents me from participating in hookup culture. I am not in any group enough to be a representative of that group so I do not really relate to any of the groups listed that we learned about.

During class, a person in my group explained a story about home life. I never really thought about that in the context of groups, but it is something worth mentioning. Everybody lives a different life and is raised in a different way. I think it pertains to groups because people can be raised differently based on their religion or their race or their sexual identity. There are so many different possibilities of people and the way they are raised. None of the groups resonated with me as mentioned before, so I had a hard time relating my history and experiences with the groups we learned about. I felt like I did not relate at all to these groups, but I still learned a lot about each one. Our history is how we were raised and how we think about certain things. Thankfully, I grew up in a very liberal and open-minded home where I was taught to accept people from a young age. So even if I did not personally relate to the groups, I accepted and honored each group through conversations.

My group used a plethora of online sources as well as books. We found some really good YouTube videos and also found tons of visual aids that simplified the topic in a way that allowed further understanding of the discussion topics. The books we used included biographies and first-hand accounts of people in situations relating to the group they identified with. As for intersectionality, all groups are connected in some way. There are always going to be people that identify with more than one group and can be used to connect people to others they may not feel they identify with. I am going to work towards trying to find my connection to one of these groups so that I can learn more about each group.

My thoughts on hookup culture seem to vary a lot from everyone in our classroom. I personally do not engage in hookup culture out of fear. I have no judgments against people that engage in it nor do I look at anyone in a different way if they do choose to hookup. I am actually working towards being able to have casual hookups, but at this moment in my life, I am unable to experience these things out of anxiety so I will continue to watch from the outside. This class is almost helping me feel more comfortable working towards it, but I also feel a little bit isolated because I have no experience relating to the topic.

For the fourth to fifth week of material we began covering the category of groups within the topic of hookup culture. Prior to this focus we, as a class, came up with a universal definition of hookup culture for the duration of the semester. That definition was, “hookup” culture is a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between two or more people without commitment. I think this fit into the category of groups because this universal definition can be applied to anyone that is participating within the hookup culture. Personally I do not believe that the category of groups applied to me because I don’t feel as if I fit into a specific group like we had outlined such as religious groups, minorities, or LGBTQ. My personal definition of hookup culture wouldn’t include a specific category of groups or any of the subgroups associated with it.

History I think plays an important part especially in this category because history has taught us that certain groups are not acceptable to be a part of or engage with. Especially with new emerging groups within LGBTQ that are becoming more known and accepted I feel as if hookup culture within those groups is judged differently than within what is considered to be normal hookup culture. There are however similarities that I have experienced. People still approach the hookup culture the same way no matter what group you are a part of. There are still all sorts of different types of relationships that are present across all groups in hookup cultures. Looking at the images of what were considered parties across decades was something that I found interesting. When looking at those images we were able to see the change over decades of who and what was present. You started to see a lot of more mixed raced parties heading towards the 90s and 2000s. I think this was something that was important for us to look at because it shows not only the development of hookup culture, but also the development of what was turning into being considered acceptable.

My teams’ external source for this category was a YouTube video that had people from different religious background discussing their viewpoints on sex before marriage. The key points I took from this video was that people’s religions change throughout life and that that is okay and acceptable. Also that people that have different views on sex before marriage can have a conversation about it and why they feel that way without it becoming a hostile environment. I also think this video was important because it might open up someone’s eyes that are not able to have those conversations, or those that judge others for their actions might become more accepting.

Personal preferences apply a lot into this category for me because I have a diverse friend group that doesn’t necessarily have the same views as I do. There are varying degrees of religiosity within my friend group and that effects the way certain friends perceive my actions. I feel judged by certain friends because they are more religious than I am and see what I am doing as wrong. This is hard for me because I feel like I can’t share with them what is going on in my romantic life because I know I will be judged. I also get judged by friends for liking other races over my own. It is just a preference of mine and I sometimes feel as if I wouldn’t be able to interact with someone of another race without one of my friends saying something to be about what I am doing. There is a clear line between being judgmental because you think you are right and having your own personal preferences. I think that having groups like religion and different races creates this opportunity for people to think what they do is correct and what others do should be judged.

Over the past two weeks, we have been looking at the groups that experience “hookup” culture. The class definition, actually coincides with what I believe “hookup” means. However, I do believe “hookup” is an umbrella term and can mean a lot of different things depending on the population. I think the definition we decided upon covers a lot of gaps, which I agree with. It opens the term “hookup” to meaning a lot of different things- from just kissing to having sex. Personally, I am not the type to “hookup” with random people or even some of my friends/acquaintances. So, having the definition be so fluid it is easier to say I have “hooked up”. I kind of feel that by saying a simple kiss was a “hook up” it can take away from the definition a little bit. Meaning, if someone said they “hooked up” you would just have to assume whatever you thought it meant.

After looking over lots of different information regarding to groups, I found looking at the time periods to be most interesting. It seems easiest to see this through music videos. Prior to this course I never even thought about the “hookup” culture, let alone music being related. Music shows us a lot about what has gone in the past. Also, more closely the impact women have on “hookup” culture. My group found a video about how women over time have shaped the culture. Bustle goes into detail about all of the different aspects. The most interesting thing to me is that the amount of guys a woman has had sex with has decreased from 10 for the Baby Boomers to 8 for the Gen X (Bustle). The video also goes into detail about how women have the capability to control more aspects to “hooking up”, for instance birth control. This really resonates with me because oftentimes people may assume now that women have a bigger role in society they might be willing to “hookup” more. I think it is so important to understand and look at the entire topic as a whole.

The sources my Team found that relate to groups are: an interview with a college age individual from a different country, a YouTube video describing how women shape the hookup culture, and the book by Bogle. We thought by interviewing an individual from another country it would allow us to find more information regarding “hookup”. This type of information will also make the book more credible, for the fact it isn’t just secluded to MSU’s majority on campus. Within Bogle’s book she has a chapter that emphasizes on men and women and the double standard relating to “hookup”. I think the resources we chose will add a lot to the class book. We are sure to include many aspects of group- from age, to race.

I guess the only “hook up” experiences I have had are with a few guys in high school, and the furthest that went was kissing. Throughout my time at college, I have not had many experiences with “hookup” due to the fact I have had a boyfriend the entire time. My boyfriend and I have been together since our senior year of high school. I enjoy the situation I am currently in, as it is hard for me to see myself “hooking up” with people that I am not in a relationship with. My friends who are single oftentimes talk with me about “hooking up” and I always support them. I have always had the mindset of not judging and letting people do whatever makes them happy, obviously as long as it’s legal. Relating to groups, I am actually a Native American. I fit into the age group of college students, but add a completely different aspect. I have found that a lot of my Native American relatives that are currently in college or of college age have very similar “hookup” experiences as my other non-minority friends.

Over the last two weeks, classmates and I have researched and discussed in out teams and as a class the groups that we believe make up ‘hookup’ culture. Our class definition of ‘hookup’ culture is “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” We identified the categories we felt made the most sense. One of the categories we established was Groups. Some of the groups we discussed include African American men/women, LGBTQ+, Religious, Spiritual, and age range. I don’t find myself labeled in any of these groups but it has been very interesting learning how the culture is different in each group. I’ve realized that most people have different views on what a ‘hookup’ is. I agree with our definition of ‘hookup’ culture as it should always be consensual when hooking up. When I refer to ‘I hooked up with a guy last night’ I am referring that we had sex. Some of my roommates don’t participate in ‘hookup’ culture so sometimes when I bring guys home from the bar or go home with a guy I feel like they are judging me. They always say comments like ‘I just couldn’t hookup with a stranger’ or that I am always bringing guys home. It’s something that bothers me because I feel that they don’t fully understand what ‘hookup’ culture is.

Bogle and Wade in out weeks 4 & 5 readings as well as in-class discussions really impacted my perspective on ‘hookup’ culture. As a female, I consider myself to be fairly active in ‘hookup’ culture, although I have never been considered a ‘slut’ or felt like one. I believe that the way you present yourself in person and on social media is where females involved in ‘hookup’ culture will get those reputations. Bogle discussed in chapter 6 that women receive more negative labels in ‘hookup’ culture. It is also discussed that women are ‘shamed’ for ‘hooking up’ whereas men are ‘praised’. I agree with this to an extent. I am comfortable talking about my past/current ‘hookups’ but I am watchful of my own reputation and what other people will think of me. I feel that I have to be careful what I say and who I am talking to about my ‘hookup’ experiences otherwise I will be shamed for it. On the other hand, guys are praised or cool for sharing a funny ‘hookup’ story. For example, I noticed in class that when guys speak up about the topic in class, the class usually responds to them positively or even laughs.

Another topic that was discussed in class regarding the readings was Wade’s ‘hookup script’. Wade labeled what steps need to be completed to lead to a ‘hookup’. Although no one really wanted to admit it, everyone that is involved in ‘hookup’ culture has a ‘script’ they just don’t realize it. Wade mentioned that grinding with a potential hookup was viewed as initiating a ‘hookup’ and letting them know you are interested. We learned in class that views on grinding are different in each Group. In the white ‘hookup’ culture grinding is really done and looks sloppy. In the African American ‘hookup’ culture grinding is the norm and fun to do. A couple of my classmates expressed that all of their friends enjoy grinding and all of their friends do to. I am interested in researching more on this topic and discussing it more within my group.

I personally think that hooking up is fun. I’ve been single for some time and definitely am not looking to start a relationship with anyone anytime soon. Before going to MSU, I broke up with my high school boyfriend because I didn’t want to be committed to anyone and to just enjoy my time and be independent. I feel that my time in college is to focus on myself and my future rather than a guy. Most of the guys I have hooked up with are mutual friends where I had an intimate connection with but were not compatible in anything else. I’m still friends with most of the guys I’ve hooked up with, it’s very casual.

Personally I would say that the class definition of hooking up is pretty spot on. Saying that it is a “sexual interaction” is very broad and includes all people and all groups I would say. We left the definition very broad and all-encompassing and I believe that is very good because no two + people are the same so definitely all hookups are never going to be the same.

I thought that it was very interesting to look into and study hookup culture across the decades. It was kind of funny because it seems as though hookup culture has really just began to take root and flourish, but the partying scene seems to have always been around. For example we looked at the 1960’s and compared it to nowadays and the people really seemed to have been more discreet about hooking up with what they wore and such, it makes me wonder if people hooked up less because they had less resources to communicate with each other and also wore more clothing. A common theme from all of the pictures that my group saw was that the people in them consisted of mainly middle-class white colored, which was kind of odd. Also, it was very hard to tell whether or not there were LGBTQ people hooking up from the pictures, although I’m sure it was happening very discreetly. One thing that stuck out to me was how Wade says that hooking up involves using your mouth and kissing and such so, wouldn’t a decade such as the 1950’s be involved in hookup culture then as well? Contradictory to this thought most see the 1950’s as a time when couples would prance around and date and be “cutesy”. A new thought that I have towards this class would be “is hooking up just a lack of time together and dating each other?” Also, since it basically is “what is the driving force?”

The main sources that my group pulled together for this assignment would include the category of religion and also Greek life and social media. What we found from reading “Sex and The Soul” was that there are many religions and they all are still apart of hookup culture on college campus’ whether or not the religious students are hooking up a lot or not. This book pointed to the aspects of shame that are interwoven between the fabrics of hooking up and staying true to their religion and how this tends to activate stress in the extremely spiritual students. As far as the greek life source goes we read “Taking Parties Seriously” and learned that pretty much every college student goes into a party with the mindset of hooking up. This then leads to our social media source “Exploring the Hook-Up App” and how sexuality is very much promoted. Various apps such as Tinder, Grindr, and Bumble are helping people find someone to “connect” with or hookup with these days, and we are seeing that people are trying much harder at putting themselves out there compared to before and this is mainly promoted through the use of social media and hookup apps.

Personally I would say that I can speak for some of those students that fall into the “religious/conservative” group. I used to participate in hookup culture but this was without knowing and once I found out I almost felt like a board piece that was used in a game, the game of hookup culture. Honestly the use of a “substance” was involved and things probably wouldn’t have escalated to this point if it weren’t for the little “boost” from said substance. This leads me to question if most people view hooking up as morally wrong if under the situation where the person is sober-minded? I honestly have no idea because as mentioned previously, every person is different and so naturally every hookup as well…

Our class defined “hookup” culture as a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. While we all agreed to make this our permanent definition, I think the definition of a hookup still varies from person to person. Kathleen Bogle expands on this idea in her book Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus (2008). Lisa Wade also explores hookup culture on college campuses in her book American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus (2017). Both authors gather data from real college campuses and talk to students about what it means to hookup, what a hookup is and everything in between. We found in the book that everyone defines hooking up differently. It can mean just kissing or it can mean meaningless sex. I personally believe that hookup culture can be defined as anything sexual that is not romantic between two people. I especially think the definition of hookup culture varies within different groups, whether it be gender, sexuality, race, age, class or religion, I think sometimes circumstances can define what a hookup is. So I think sometimes it can be hard to put one solid definition on “hookup” culture, because it means something different to everyone.

Something I found very disappointing is the lack of diversity in both of these books research. Bogle addresses her lack of diversity and explains it was largely in part due to the lack of diversity on the campuses overall that she studied. Nonetheless, 95% of students she surveyed were white, most from middle to upper class, and most being heterosexual. Bogle states that racial minorities are one of the groups that are least likely to hookup, but does not provide any further research on this topic. I also think it’s interesting because students surveyed were either from a large state university or a Roman Catholic university. Throughout the book, all students have similar answers to the questions and there was really no differentiation between the state school and the religious school. But Bogle also points out that students with strong religious affiliation were a group that was least likely to involve themselves in hookup culture (2008). Wade shows more diversity in her book, but doesn’t necessarily go into depth about the differences between groups (at least not in the sections we’ve read so far) (2017). It all gets kind of clumped together and, I think, erases the importance of hookup culture within different groups. Both authors recognized the age that “hookup” culture is at its height in one’s life. The reason hooking up is seen as a ‘culture’ on college campuses is because during college is the time that people have the freedom and opportunity, possibly for the first time, to explore with sexual intimacy. It’s pointed out in Wade’s book, the topic of ‘moving on’ from hookup culture once college ends and in Bogle’s book, she includes a chapter titled ‘Life after College: A Return to Dating’ (2008; 2017). I am interested to see what “hookup” culture is like after college.

The main external source my group found for groups was “Hooking Up’ at College: Does Religion Make a Difference?” by Amy M. Burdette, Terrence D. Hill, Christopher G. Ellison, and Norval D. Glenn. This article focused on college women with religious affiliation and their involvement in “hooking” up. I was shocked at the results. It was found that Catholic women were more likely to hookup than women with no religious affiliation and Protestant women were less likely to hookup. It also showed that church attendance influences that chances of hooking up or not. I really liked this article because it was able to shed light on something that was neglected in past research done about “hooking up” and it distinguished different religions.

I do not participate in hooking up. I have been with my boyfriend since high school. As weird as it sounds, I think I still “hookup” with my boyfriend, even though our definition defines “hookup” culture as having no commitment. Even if I was single, I don’t think I would be super involved in “hookup” culture on campus. Most of my friends are single and love to go out and party and the majority of them have yet to “hookup” with anyone. I think I would probably follow suit. I think “hookup” culture is totally normal, and I have no problem with it, I just don’t think it’s for me.

The definition of hookup culture, as we discussed in class, is quite fluid and is different for many different people. I agree with the definition we discussed in class as it relates to the groups category, which was “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment”. However, there are many different groups of people that view the “culture” differently. As we discussed in class, some groups are more, or less likely to engage in hooking up. Those who had families who came here from a different country are certainly less likely, as they were raised in a completely different mindset. Those in the LGBT community might be less comfortable being a part of the culture due to potential insecurities as well as fewer options. One’s age also plays a big part in how involved people are in the culture. Those younger are certainly more likely to be involved as they still feel they can have fun and not take relationships too seriously, while those older are more likely to desire long term, stable relationships.

The group category is a unique one, in that most individuals do not fall under the LGBT category, or the immigrant category, or the minority category. As a result, it is difficult for many people to be able to understand the unique perspectives each of these groups have on hookup culture. The readings from Bogle and Wade lent a more academic viewpoint on the idea of hookup culture as a whole, and in a way serve to shed light on what the hookup culture is about. In a way, it is sort of a 101. The most shocking fact that I have learned so far was how relatively not often people hook up. This of course depends on the definition people have, but the average was around 3 people or so I believe. That, over a 4 or 5 year span, is not that many people, in my opinion. The idea however, that people feel the need to compete in terms of numbers is quite ridiculous. High numbers, and low numbers, really don’t mean that much. As long as one is happy with who or what they’re doing, nothing else matters. What does matter, however, is when people feel pressured or forced to participate, and rack up high body counts out of insecurity or peer pressure. That is when it becomes unhealthy and can lead to serious mental issues in the future. I have never felt pressured to participate in the culture due to not being a part of Greek life, where there is a consistent pressure to hookup at various functions. That does not mean I do not participate, but it means I do so without any pressure or due to insecurity

Our group is focusing on how the social media aspect ties into groups and peer pressure. The various “dating” apps that exist, such as tinder and bumble, only reinforce the hookup culture. On one hand, they are beneficial as they show you the number of fish in the sea, and not to stress too much over one person. On the other, it is harder to take anything too seriously, for that same exact reason. The major selling point of the apps is how easy it is to express interest in someone without any commitments and without needing to talk to them in person. Our group discussed this in class in preparation for the script assignment, and we will certainly be analyzing this further as we all believe it is incredibly important to take the impact of dating apps into account. I myself have taken advantage of the apps to hook up with people, but I do not do it often and I often like to at least know a little about the person to develop a comfort level, as opposed to jumping right into something.

Since the start of the semester, my classmates and I have focused on defining hookup culture and the related categories which attribute to the topic. After much deliberation, we chose to define hookup culture as “A consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” In a general sense, my personal definition of hookup culture strongly connects to our class definition. I agree with the way several parts of hookup culture are touched upon in our definition so that it acts as a comprehensive identification of values within the culture. Such as the way we included that it is consensual, intimate, sexual, and without commitment. In addition to our definition, we also identified hookup culture to contain five categories that are essential to understanding and learning about the processes of hookup culture. These five categories include Music/Television & Film, Gender Roles, Groups, Social/Communicative, and Psychological. During this first two-week period of the course, we have focused our discussions and research on the category of groups that contains the elements of individuals belonging to groups of religion, spirituality, LGBTQ, minorities, global perspectives and age ranges. Personally, I feel that our class definition of hookup culture, as well as our textbooks and the resources we have discussed throughout the past two weeks all, lack sufficient context about the group category. This is because the way in which groups contribute to different trends in hookup culture which our definition fails to touch upon.

Based on my personality and personal experiences I resonate most with the group of people who chose to not participate in hookup culture. I feel that this element of groups, as well as others, are not a focused-on topic of hookup culture. In today’s day of age people just assume that everyone participates in hookup culture, but that isn’t always the case. I have also experienced this on a smaller level within this class. For example, I have been asked, “Why you are taking this class when you don’t participate in hookup culture and it’s not something that you’re interested in learning about?” Another example of this feeling is that way that in the very beginning of the semester I had thought to myself that Dr. Acevedo also assumed that everyone in the class was enrolled and interested in studying this topic because it is a part of all of our lives as college students. Based on these experiences I feel that there is a disconnect between the sub-element of people who don’t participate in hookups and those who do, which represents hookup culture as a whole.

I have also sensed a divide between hookup culture and the sub-elements of groups based on the resources that we have used, such as our textbooks and image research. Something important to keep in mind when focusing on this divide is that we are currently living in a time that is inclusive and contains the context for all groups of people. As well as the fact that the hookup culture is still in a state of development. Because of this, I consider the resources we have been using to be outdated since thus far they have lacked context about individuals who belong to our sub-elements of groups, such as individuals who belong to the LGBTQ community. I say this because of the way that hookup culture, in a general sense, resonates around the interactions between a man and a woman. This has been the case in the literature, images, and music that we have researched.

While working on our annotated bibliography my group used a YouTube video for our external resource that applies to the category of groups. The video was published by Jubilee and was titled, “Should You Have Sex Before Marriage? Can they Agree?” The video acted as an open conversation between two sub-elements of our group category being those who participate in hookup culture and those who don’t. In particular, it was a discussion between individuals who practice abstinence, and those who had participated in premarital sex and how their opinions differed when asked about topics of sex and hook up culture. Some of the main points of the conversation were the way that a majority of the group agreed that sex can be purely a physical interaction between people and that there does not need to have any type of deeper connection. As well as the idea that at times one person in the situation can sometimes catch feelings and that they hope that the physical interactions can turn into a relationship. This is very similar to the discussion we had in class about the quite often girls in situations where girls are hooking up with the same person more than once they can develop feelings for that person and start the “What are we?” conversation. And while discussing topics relating to abstinence the individuals stated that waiting to have sex strengthens a relationship and peoples’ connection to each other. But whether people engaged in having sex or not almost all of them had experienced being shamed for their views and actions regarding intimacy and hooking up.

I personally fit into the group which does not participate in hookup culture. My reason for this is because I am in a committed relationship and have been for several years. Contrary to popular belief I see this as a good thing. People always tend to think that I am missing out on a big part of the “college experience” because I don’t hookup with anyone at parties or have the same lifestyle as my friends. But in reality, my college experience is even better. For one I don’t have to go to a party or use an app to “find someone” to be with when I am in the mood. Secondly, because my boyfriend and I are in love and have a deep emotional connection it is actually a meaningful experience when we are intimate with one another. So, if you ask me, I believe that being in a relationship is better than participating in hookup culture even though it makes me the odd man out because of it. There were two occurrences within the past two-week period that made me feel that way. The first was when we were going through the music of the decades and Dr. Acevedo pulled up the playlist of current “love songs” and each song that was on that list was on my personal playlist that my boyfriend and I listen and sing along to in the car, but the class as a whole was very displeased with the list. The second time was when we were researching poems and the one, I resonated the most with said: “In an age of hookups romance makes you a rebel” (Devoue). So, by being part of the group who doesn’t participate in hookup culture I know that it’s no longer the typical relationship stance, however in no way does that change my opinion that being in a relationship and being happily committed to someone is better than having meaningless sexual relations with several people and not committing to each other.

In terms of a group that I am a part of, I think that my religious beliefs have a big impact on my view of hookup culture. For me personally, I don’t judge others who participate in hookup culture; however, I greatly scrutinize myself for even thinking about having a sexual encounter with a man. I plan on waiting to have any form of sex until marriage mainly because of my promise to God. While I am glad with my decision, I feel like I miss out on a lot of things that make up “the college experience.” I personally have never had a boyfriend, never kissed anyone, never experienced anything sexual or intimate; however, I feel like I still have a good grasp as to what hookup culture is. I’ll admit, I have been tempted to stray from my vow for the sole purpose of making my dating life “easier.” By this, I’m referring to the fact (based on my personal experiences) that most college guys are only looking to have sex. As Tink once said, “He just wanted one thing, and I just wanted something,” meaning that (most) guys just want sex. While this is not true for all college men, this is what I’ve seen from almost all of the guys I have encountered while on this college campus.

It’s honestly so hard to try to find a real, meaningful relationship with someone, when so many college students are solely looking for a “hookup.” I just think that the norm of today’s society is to sleep with someone first and get to know them later (if even that), making it difficult for people like me who don’t actively participate in hookup culture. Guys basically laugh at me when I tell them that I’m waiting until marriage to have sex. They then say I’m a tease because I met them at a party and danced with them. Wade’s steps to a hookup are true for the most part, but I feel that it shouldn’t be considered the case for every situation. Just because I dance with a guy, doesn’t mean he should automatically assume that I want to have sex with him. On multiple occasions, I have gone to a guy’s place to “study,” and what he actually wanted to do was make out or have sex. Maybe it’s me being naive for actually thinking we were going to study, but I think that too many presumptions are made that everyone is trying to just hook up. Is it really that hard to believe that some people actually want to get to know someone else and to start a relationship before sleeping with them?

Some questions I still want to find answers to involve topics we’ve discussed in class. My biggest one has to do with the well-known dance known as grinding. People in the class had the general consensus that grinding was “gross, creepy, slimy, and inappropriate;” however, I disagree with that to an extent. I feel like if two consensual adults are choosing to interact on the dance floor in a sensual way with THEIR OWN BODIES, they have every right to do so. Some people compared grinding to making out, but, again, I disagree with this. Grinding is literally two people (maybe more) moving their bodies against each other. Yes, there are sexual undertones, but it’s not like they’re swapping bodily fluids (like seen in kissing and sex). The only time I see grinding as a problem is if one party of the “grinding session” is intoxicated to the point of not being able to make decisions for themself. I have seen this before and have gone up to them to make sure they’re okay, but I never felt any sort of judgement towards them. Quite honestly, I cheer on girls who have the ability to twerk and dance like there’s no tomorrow. Grinding, in a way, is a form of female empowerment; women are able to show that they own their bodies and can do what they want with them.

I think that the topic of grinding also connects to the idea of hookup culture variance between different groups, specifically racial groups. I myself identify as white, but I attend parties of many different cultures, mainly the ones labelled as “white parties” and “black parties.” In class, someone mentioned how there is a difference between these two types of parties, in that the ones labelled “black parties” involve a lot of dancing (such as grinding), while the “white parties” have very little grinding and twerking. I honestly can’t tell you why that is, but I have definitely seen this to be true. I’ve gone to “white parties” and been looked at funny for dancing with a guy, while I’ve been to “black parties” and have actually been looked at funny if I wasn’t doing that. I guess my beliefs on grinding stem from the fact that a majority of the people I surround myself with are not white, and they encourage me to dance like no one’s watching (whether that involves twerking, grinding, you name it). I feel like some cultures are just more open with their sexuality and are more comfortable with their bodies. Maybe some people just don’t know how to dance, so they choose to judge those who do. There’s no real answer to the “why” of this.

Overall, I guess if I had to give some advice, I would say don’t let peer pressure impact your decisions in life. Even though I have definitely experienced this first hand, I’ve learned that what I do with my body is my business and no one else’s. If I want to remain celibate until marriage, I’ll do that. If I wanted to have sex with someone new every weekend, I honestly could do that too. Even if I wanted to grind on a guy at every party I go to, I could do that too because you know why, I don’t care what people think and neither should you. Obviously, don’t take this as an excuse to make reckless decisions that put your life or others’ lives in danger, but rather as something to encourage you to take control of your life. We’re only here for a limited time, so we should make the most of it. Also, I think that I have some advice to people who like to judge others for their participation (or lack thereof) in hookup culture. While it’s normal to feel some sort of way about the actions of others (especially if it differs from your own), I think it’s important to understand that maybe what they do is a part of their culture or upbringing. Maybe what they do is considered “normal” to them, something that they don’t see as “wrong.” Just as long as everyone is being safe and not doing anything that could jeopardize their future, feel free to keep doing what you feel comfortable with and leave the judgement at the door.

The class defines hookup culture as intimate relationships between 2 or more people. I think that this part of our definition connects well with the idea of groups because we talked about having multiple people involved. Regardless of personal belief, I believe that it was important to include all people. I think for most people polyamorous relationships fall into the LGBTQ+ spectrum, so that is where I find it easiest to connect it to the topic of groups.

I found that in Bogle chapter 4 they briefly discuss homosexual relationships. They talk about how gay college students “were more or less on their own quest to find potential partners” (68). Those whose hook-up norms differ from the traditional, heterosexual and monogamous will likely struggle to find people on campus. With the definition including potential polyamorous relationships, we have to think about the effects that has on their college hookup experiences. These people could potentially face greater risks as they have to look off campus for their hookups.

Our group discussed the idea of groups like religion. We discussed how this could potentially persuade (or not persuade) a person to participate in college hookup culture. This is important to discuss because many traditional Catholics try to stay abstinent whereas, from personal experience, those who are not religious do not care as much. We also discussed family groups. Those who have divorced parents seem more likely to be promiscuous, because there is inconsistency in parenting. We didn’t use any outside sources for this but are discussing using this for our script.

I personally have found the LGBTQ+ community to be a much harder place to find people to hookup. I am bisexual and I can only find people on campus who are looking for heterosexual relationships and hookups. While obviously that’s fine, it is extremely hard to find someone of the opposite sex to be with. Often when I do, they are not attractive to me or don’t want the same things I do. Like previously stated, I often have to look off campus for anything beyond a heterosexual hookup.

For the first two to three weeks of the semester, our class as a collective gave the word ‘hookup’ a definition that we would use as a reference point for the entirety of our semester. Together, we agreed upon hooking up being a ‘consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.’ Based on my own personal experience and opinions, this definition embodies everything that I think about with hookups: consensual, sexual, and without commitment. However, being of Caucasian ethnicity and being a female, I feel like this definition easily fits into my ideals of the hookup culture as I am a majorly represented demographic. When I think about this definition as being applicable to other individuals, as in the groups we have been discussing in weeks 4 and 5 of the semester, I don’t think I could say with certainty that this definition reflects their ideals of hooking up as well. Some examples of the groups I am referring could include different ethnic groups, different religious or spiritual groups, or different sexual identities, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community. As I don’t identify with any of these groups except being a spiritual woman, it is hard for me to provide insight as far as their hookup experiences. Other individuals within those groups may agree with our definition, but they could also disagree based on mitigating factors such as different cultural upbringings and ideologies. With that being said, for us as a class to write a book, we really need to enrichen our minds with knowledge of what hooking up means for people different to ourselves. This could be through interviews, surveys, or by whatever means necessary but it’s a critical element that we make this book inclusive and relatable for more members of our society involved in hookup culture.

In both books, Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus by Kathleen Bogle and American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus by Lisa Wade, there seemed to be a major difference between two gendered groups: men and women. Both authors focus on and go in depth about the aspects of either being a male in the hookup culture or being a female. Although we have gender listed under a different category than groups, personally I believe that men and women could be in their own individual ‘groups.’ Wade and Bogle seem to have a consensual agreement upon the fact that women are highly likely to develop emotions of liking and caring for an individual that they’re hooking up with, and that men are highly unlikely to commit to anyone they’re hooking up with. I personally don’t agree with that, as many of my friends and I hook up freely without dating or having feelings ever crossing our minds. There is also a double standard on gendered groups when it comes to hooking up: men are given praise and women are ‘slut shamed.’ A woman is looked down upon by men if they have too many sexual partners, however men have as many partners as they please. I don’t agree with a lot of the assumptions and double standards in place for hooking up, however I do understand where they come from. A lot of it, even mentioned by Bogle, could be due to psychological reasons – women are born as nurturers and men are born as providers. Men can biologically have many babies and women can only have 1 in 9 months. Personally, I think that could explain a lot of the inferences about the correct way to hookup, even if they only have a minute, subconscious effect on individual’s perceptions.

During this time of reflection and research of what hooking up means to different groups, my team spent a lot of time discussing LGBTQ+ hookup culture. One thing that caught our attention was the fact that there is so little representation of this group – it’s so hard to find articles, music, movies, or even poems about how this group of individuals chooses to participate in hookup culture. While the acceptance and acknowledgement of this group being pretty recent (within the last 10-15 years), it seems that exposure has been fairly slow. Members of different sexual identities obviously partake in different measures of hooking up compared to heterosexual individuals. In a poem, My Lover is a Woman by Pat Parker, the author is a young, African American lesbian woman (3 marginalized groups in one individual: African American, woman, LGBTQ+ member) who talks about the hardships she faces when partaking in hooking up with her partner. She talks about how happy and secure she is when she touches her partner, however then she starts to remember that she can never tell her family without being shunned for being a lesbian, and she remembers what the African American community went through and continues to go through as far as oppression, even in the sense of hooking up. I think it brought in perspective that I take so many things for granted, even something as simple (or complex, depending on how you look at it) hooking up.

In my early college years, I experimented with my sexuality by hooking up with a woman. While I thoroughly enjoyed it and would do it again, I can’t see myself ever pursuing a relationship with a female. So, I guess you could say I identify as Bisexual in terms of hookup culture, but as heterosexual when I want to actively pursue more with someone. I don’t really bother putting myself into a box or a label because realistically, I don’t care and if you’re not having sex with me, you shouldn’t care either. However, my interests in other women helps make connects for me to the LGBTQ+ community. I have told my friends but, like many members of that community, I would never tell my family out of fear of being judged. On the other side of my personal experiences, I actually did find my boyfriend through hooking up. I know I said earlier that I don’t agree with the stereotype about women seeking relationships and being unable to stick to the lack of commitment of hooking up, which I still stand by. I’ve had many experiences that were brief, consensual sexual interactions that were just that – hookups. However, with my boyfriend, it did end up developing. We started out as the most platonic friends then eventually, we started as kind of ‘friends with benefits.’ We just ended up kissing at a party one day. Kissing led to other stuff. Then, after a lot of the ‘other stuff’ happening multiple times, he said he had feelings for me. That’s when I internally put away my ‘no-commitment’ cap, and started having feelings for him too. Now, almost 2 years later, here we are. We are monogamous so we don’t hookup with others, but we definitely partake in intimate, sexual encounters, we just have commitment and love.

The class definition of hooking up is “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. I personally have a very similar definition to our class definition. I believe hooking up is having a sexual relationship. Although kissing is a form of hooking up, personally I don’t believe that that ‘counts’ as hooking up. As for how the definition relates to groups, I don’t think that I know enough about different group’s experiences hooking up to determine whether it is connected or similar to our class definition. Although I am a woman, I am not part of any other minorities. The only knowledge I might have is with hearing a lot of hooking up experiences from my friends of other races or friends who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. My best friend, who is of another race, has told me many times, when we ‘compare’ our hookup stories, that in her experience, African Americans are maybe a bit more forward and ‘confident’ when it comes to hook up cultures at parties. However, this is only a generalization from one person’s perspective. Although we are of different races, we have very similar definitions of hooking up and what hook up culture is, which is similar to our class definition.

I think the topic of groups was hard for me to reflect on my own experiences simply because I don’t have that much experience in the hookup culture across different groups. However a topic we talked about was age range and our perception of hookup culture. As a group we discussed that hookup culture usually occurs in the college age range, however when in class the mention of elders in homes hooking up, everyone was in shock at the fact that that is more common than we think. This brought me to wonder why and if there is such a stigma about elders hooking up and what would have to change to change that stigma that hookup culture is primarily with college aged adults.

For our external sources, our team felt it was really important to get information that was current and representative of our culture today. Something that our group struggled a lot with Bogle and Wade’s books is the lack of representation of groups. We felt that although there is plenty of data and information, some personal, and some statistical, the variety was very limited. I do not enjoy reading Bogle’s book just because of how she explains her findings. I think to a certain extent it is important to show her own experiences, and that is necessary. However, I think she does that too much throughout the chapters and trying to relate this to groups and the LGBTQ+ community is near to impossible, since there is barely any representation of that community or any community other than white, straight women and males. Since in the book there was a lack of representation of those communities, we decided to take another route and use an article that talks about religion. I think it is important for religion to be talked about because although the books are lacking in all those communities, it is also lacking in the hookup culture within religion. This article essentially talks about how different religions see hooking up and the hookup culture we are in. It is a fairly recent article with explanations and data varied throughout most minorities and sexes, through the lens of religion, which is a super interesting perspective.

I do not have much personal experience in the hook up culture in the sense of groups because although I participate in hookup culture, I am not part of the LGBTQ+ community and I am white. So my only personal experience would be stories from my friends who are part of those communities. From my friends, I think that hookup culture is a ‘sensitive’ topic, from my experience I do think that frat parties and with the help or either alcohol or dating apps, hooking up has becomes easier than ever and that is why, I believe, that hookup culture is often associated with college aged adults. It is because of how easy it is to hook up with others our age.

During the first week of class, our class collectively decided that the definition of “hookup” culture is, “a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment.” Since our definition does not specify what types of people take part in “hookup” culture, I think it connects with the category “groups,” since this category encompasses all age ranges, ethnicities, races, religious affiliations, spiritualties, and sexual orientations that all individuals can identify with. As for myself, I am a white, cis gender, heterosexual, 20-year-old female who was raised Christian. Therefore, as for race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation, I am a part of the majority. As a female, I am a part of a marginalized group, but I am not a minority. This is why I struggled relating to any of the “groups” subcategories during the past two weeks. Since I was raised Christian, specifically Catholic, I grew up being told that I had to “save sex for marriage.” Therefore, my relatives look down upon the “hookup” culture and those who take part in it. I disagree with this perspective and no longer associate with Catholicism, but these were the values that I was raised upon. I believe they have influenced the way I am today because I do not have sexual encounters with men who I do not have a strong emotional connection with. Although I do not take part in “hookup” culture, I believe everyone has the right to do what they want with their body, and do not judge others for doing so. I do question though, for those who identify with religions which shame those who participate in “hookup” culture, how their mental health is impacted by hooking up. I would like to learn more through the readings about how religious values and norms impact those who participate in “hookup” culture during the present day.

Both of the readings from Bogle and Wade during Week 4 and 5 exposed aspects of “hookup” culture related to different groups on college campuses (2008; 2017). Some of these facts surprised me, and others resonated and strongly aligned with my personal experiences. Bogle states that students who are racial minorities are least likely to “hookup”, along with those who are very religious, and in committed relationships (25). I was surprised that racial minorities “hookup” significantly less than white people. I would like to learn more about how race plays a role in the “hookup” lifestyle. On the other hand, I understand why those who are very religious or are in committed relationships “hookup” less. A few of my friends are very religious and some are in committed relationships and some are single. Whether they are single or not, they have expressed that they will only kiss the other person and will not participate in any other sexual activities. Additionally, as for those who are in committed relationships, it makes sense that they are less likely to “hookup” because according to our class definition of “hookup” culture, one requirement for an interaction to be considered a “hookup” is that there is no form of commitment between the 2+ people involved. While Bogle discussed race and religiosity, Wade focused on the differences between age groups related to “hookup” culture (2008; 2017). Wade explained that current college students are significantly more depressed, overwhelmed and anxious than they have been in the past 10-20 years, and this is partially due to the sexual environment on campus (7). This information resonated with me because many of my female friends are negatively emotionally impacted but the “hookup” culture on campus. Most of them become emotionally distraught after they “hookup” with someone and are “ghosted” by the individual afterwards. I question what the “hookup” culture was like 10-20 years ago and why it did not take the same emotional toll on people as it does in the present day.

My team, the Freaky Five, found two scholarly articles while conducting our research for the category “Groups” for our annotated bibliography. Religion is one of our subcategories and one of the articles we analyzed is called “Hooking Up’ at College: Does Religion Make a Difference?” by Amy M. Burdette, Terrence D. Hill, Christopher G. Ellison, and Norval D. Glenn (2009). This study was conducted at 11 college and university campuses during 2000 and 2001, with a 919-person sample-size (Burdette et al.). Each individual was asked if they had “hooked up” while attending school, how often they attend religious services, how religious they thought they were, and if they attend a religious educational institution or not. The results show that higher religious service attendance is correlated with lower rates of “hookups.” On the other hand, attending a religiously affiliated college or university, especially Catholic-affiliated, was correlated with higher rates of “hookups” (Burdette et al.). This information was shocking to me because I was raised Catholic and was taught that sex was only meant for two married people to participate in. I thought the findings of this study would have been opposite of what the research shows. LGBTQ+ communities are also one of our subcategories and the other article we analyzed is called, “Navigating Campus Hookup Culture: LGBTQ Students and College Hookups” by Ellen Lamont, Teresa Roach, and Sope Kahn (2018). This article explained how “hookup” culture on college campuses is typically heteronormative and therefore, those a part of the LGBTQ+ community are excluded from this scene. They express how their perspective on “hookup” culture focuses on respect between the individuals “hooking up,” and pleasure for all individuals involved as well (Lamont et al.). They also explain how the current, dominant “hookup” culture is predominantly influenced by heterosexual cis gender men and is the root cause of the toxicity of the “hookup” culture (Lamont et al.). After reading this article, I wish that LGBTQ+ individuals were given a larger platform to speak about their “healthier” “hookup” culture practices, in order to have a greater influence upon the dominant “hookup” culture on college campuses today.

The only times I have “hooked up” with men are when I had a deeper emotional connection with them and thought that our friendship had the potential to become a committed relationship. I believe that the reason for my choice in only “hooking up” with those who I am interested in forming an exclusive relationship with may stem from my religious upbringing and values that my parents held. Additionally, I fear becoming emotionally attached to the person and then them leaving, because “hookups” do not require commitment. This is another of the many reasons why I do not typically take part in the “hookup” culture. Although those “hookups” never turned into committed relationships, the individuals I chose to “hookup” with, held the same perspective regarding “hooking up” as myself. They did not “hook up” with individuals who they did not have a strong emotional connection with either. One of the men identified as a Christian and the other identified as Jewish, so I am not sure whether they held these perspectives due to their religious upbringing, or due to other factors in their life and personality.

During the first two weeks of class, we created our definition of “hookup” culture. Our definition was: a consensual, intimate interaction that is sexual between 2+ people without commitment. When it comes to this week’s category, Groups, the definition is a hit or miss. When considering the LGBTQ community, I think this definition applies to majority of the community aside from people who identify as asexual. Ethnic minorities would be included in this definition as well. Religious groups would probably not fit this as their definition as it is heavily against most religious morals. They would consider hooking up to the extent of kissing or only with the same person and feelings attached. I think that I agree with this statement because I do not consider myself religious and I am a part of the LGBTQ and ethnic minority communities. Personally, I do not engage in hookup culture. This is because I am in a long term relationship which is closed and intimate. I believe that hookups must be where both/all participants are consenting to everything occurring from start to finish. The noncommittal circumstance makes hookups infamous. Personally, I do not agree with that lifestyle for myself. I feel as though I only feel comfortable with one partner with the communication that all feelings would be equal and intimate.

Like most in the LGBTQ+ community, I feel suffocated in the hetero normativity. As a bisexual in a heterosexual relationship, I used to find myself encouraged by society to only be with the opposite gender to myself. Because of this, I was never able to fully pursue someone of the same gender as me. Seeing how other people went through a lot to come out as bisexual, gay, trans, and lesbian, I knew that coming out as a high school sophomore in 2016 was not an issue. I was able to date someone of the same gender publicly. However, when people saw my new relationship with someone of the opposite gender, they thought I “turned straight”. This is true for many others. I know this because an article by Slate says, “​84 percent of self-identified bisexuals in committed relationships have a partner of the opposite sex, while only 9 percent are in same-sex relationships” (Marusic 2016). ​​I never felt like hookup culture was an option to me when I was dating someone of the same gender. Because I am of an ethnic minority, my parents were very careful with the idea of boys. It was not normal for them to see college students date and engage in hookup culture. Luckily, my mom was able to see that dating is still a form of commitment, and was able to support me and my relationship. I think a big reason for why I don’t choose hookup culture is because of my parent’s morals set onto me. Even though I don’t fully follow them, I stay close enough to be confident in what I am doing and making the proud of me in the end.

My team’s external sources for the Category ‘Groups’ are consisted of an interview and a book. The interview will be held with multiple people of different minority groups. We are interviewing a few African American college students to get the view of a minority race. This is the perfect minority race to choose as interracial relationships within Americans and African Americans was heavily oppressed in the past. We will also be interviewing members of the LGBTQ+ society to see how hookup culture differs to them. I think a lot of people lack the knowledge of how loving away from the norm has its downs. This interview will shed light on the LGBTQ+ minority. The book we have in mind is called College Sex: A Philosophy for Everyone. ​It discusses how each type of college kid is involved in sexual activity on campus. However, this book doesn’t address much of the LGBTQ+ minority. As far as the class books, I don’t think Bogle was able to give much information on the groups that I represent in her book Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus (2008). This is because the book was written around a time when the LGBTQ+ community wasn’t accepted or talked about as often as it is now. Even though Wade published her book, American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex On Campus , in 2017, it still lacked the knowledge I wish I would’ve known when I was introduced to hookup culture. Both books lack the information of the ethnic minority perspective as well.

I have been thinking really long and hard about what group I “belong” in. I don’t actively participate in hooking up but I am not opposed to it. I am not really comfortable with using tinder to hook up. Like the whole fact that you match with someone on tinder and just go over some random guys house to have sex with, does not appeal to me at all. Some of my friends have horror stories involving tinder hookups and I think I am extremely scared to participate in hookup culture that way. I would want to meet someone like at a bar or party, and go from there. I feel like it is also hard for me to join hookup culture since the only sex I have ever had was with my ex-boyfriend. I don’t really know how to pursue hooking up with someone or even how to meet someone (that’s not on tinder). My roommates are also the type to judge me if I brought someone home from the bar. I wish this wasn’t another reason why I am not actively participating, but it is. So I guess I am in the group called “I would want to hookup but I do not know how to pursue it and tinder really makes me nervous.”

I am really glad that we chose to read Bogle because it really showed me how close minded people can be. One thing that really pissed me off about the book written by Bogle was how she thinks about girls and hookup culture. Her views are mostly “girls are sluts if they participate in hookup culture, but boys can have sex with whoever they want”. It is quite annoying. Also, I consider myself as a person who likes to party. Does that mean I bang every guy I meet? No. I can drink and have a good time without being associated with being easy. Even if I want to have sex, who cares!! I feel like her whole book is more on judgement than actual facts about hookup culture. That is why I am so excited that we are going to be able write a book that actually is correct about hookup culture and that has no judgement or shame connected to it.

Another thing discussed from the books was that there are steps of hooking up. There really are not steps. Everyone does their own thing. It’s very generalized in the book. Not everyone uses the “base system”, like 1st base, 2nd base, etc. I feel like the book is really just puts everyone in the same group and does not talk about all the variety that comes with hookup culture. Some people may consider kissing a lead way to hooking up while some can consider kissing just a fun thing to do that.

My group really talked about the LGBTQ community and how it is rarely talked about. With my experience, people are more willing to come out in college. But once they are out, they do not know where to go from there. My high school sex education class did not even talk about the LGBTQ community. STDs could be more common if people do not get the proper education on how they can prevent them. Gay and lesbian sex was never brought up in sex education and ways to prevent STDs. This is not fair to the LGBTQ community that they are overlooked with sex education which could harm their health. Even in media especially music, LGBTQ sex is never really talked about. Why is that? Heterosexual sex is talked about all the time but not LGBTQ sex. If more songs were created that brings in all different type of sex then it could be more educational and talked about more often.

Hookup Culture Copyright © 2020 by IAH231B.003 Class and Dr. Denise Acevedo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts Essay

Planning the introduction, planning the body of your essay, planning the conclusion.

Topic sentence: Public shaming has been around since ancient times. Only recently, Gen Z created the term cancel culture to refer to the modern form of public shaming. Cancel culture refers to the practice of an individual or company stopping a public organization or figure after they have said or done something offensive or objectionable (Hassan, 2021).

The following paper bases its idea on three facts:

• Cancel culture simplifies intricate problems and promotes hasty judgments.
• Cancel culture has prompted individuals to ask for forgiveness without typically comprehending the weight of their deeds.
• Cancel culture is an invasion of privacy; it involves criminal threats and might drive an individual to suicide.

Thesis: There are positive effects of cancel culture, such as holding people accountable; however, it is a harmful and wrongful act, and people should not condone it.

Supporting Evidence Paragraph #1

Topic Sentence: The increased awareness of cancel culture has promoted sudden judgments and simplified complex problems.

Explain Topic Sentence: Often, there is a definite contrast between wrong and right. However, in a situation whereby people are constantly searching for mistakes, they may not know it and can be quick to judge (Romano, 2021).

Introduce Evidence: For instance, politicians and other individuals have used cancel culture to coerce people (Romano, 2021).

Concluding Sentence: The acts of cancel culture stop people from sharing their opinions even though that is the appropriate or necessary action.

Supporting Evidence Paragraph #2

Topic Sentence: Additionally, the current cancel culture has led to the perpetrator routinely asking for forgiveness for their past errors after a public outcry (Romano, 2021).

Explain Topic Sentence: The main problem with this outcome is that these individuals solely ask for forgiveness after the public outcry and not after personally acknowledging their mistakes.

Introduce Evidence: For instance, according to Hassan, people should reach out to the perpetrator and constructively share their thoughts and expose their faulty logic instead of calling them out (Hassan, 2021).

Concluding Sentence: Cancel culture affects the habits of individuals negatively. For instance, it causes people to senselessly apologize to people without understanding the cause of the problem.

Supporting Evidence Paragraph #3

Topic Sentence: Unquestionably, cancel culture is toxic when it entails driving an individual to suicide, privacy invasion, or criminal threats (Hassan, 2021).

Explain Topic Sentence: The nature of most social media comments appears to demonstrate that cancel culture does not necessarily result in positive social change. Cancel culture spreads hate online, just like cyberbullying (Hassan, 2021).

Introduce Evidence: For instance, cancelling culture is illegal since hate crimes are prohibited.

Concluding Sentence: The violation of civil rights is viewed as a crime in America, and cancel culture denies citizens who disagree with other people to speak.

Counterargument

Topic Sentence: The advantage of cancel culture is that it typically gives people who have not heard the platform to call out injustices and voice their opinions through social media. It makes individuals impact real-life situations, such as raising awareness against ableism, sexism, or racism. For instance, a canceled entertainer such as Roseanne Barr lost her job and fans after making a racist tweet (Romano, 2020).

Concluding Sentence: When correctly used, cancel culture gives absolute power to everyday people and allows them to have such a significant impact in a virtual setting. However, the problem with this outcome is that the legal system does not share the perceptions towards the deviant behavior done by the canceled individuals.

Topic Sentence: In conclusion, the positive effect of cancel culture does not supersede the adverse impacts of cancel culture, which is harmful and wrongful. Cancel culture should not be allowed. Most individuals think it is an essential social justice tool, especially in an environment with substantial power imbalances between influential public figures and the affected communities and individuals. However, cancel culture has become uncontrollable and has allowed other individuals to invade people’s privacy, leading to senseless apologies while encouraging lawlessness.

Concluding Sentence: Cancel culture is unavoidable in today’s society, but optimistically, people should make a more positive culture with fair criticism.

Public shaming has been around since ancient times. Only recently, Gen Z created the term cancel culture to refer to the modern form of public shaming. Cancel culture refers to the practice of an individual or company stopping a public organization or figure after they have said or done something offensive or objectionable (Hassan, 2021). The following paper bases its idea on three facts: cancel culture simplifies intricate problems and promotes hasty judgments, quickly bringing outrageously severe outcomes in less harsh circumstances. Secondly, cancel culture has prompted individuals to ask for forgiveness without typically comprehending the weight of their deeds. Lastly, cancel culture is an invasion of privacy; it involves criminal threats and might drive an individual to suicide. There are positive effects of cancel culture, such as holding people accountable; however, it is a harmful and wrongful act, and people should not condone it.

The increased awareness of cancel culture has promoted sudden judgments and simplified complex problems. These deeds can easily result in outrageously severe outcomes in less harsh circumstances. Often, there is a definite contrast between wrong and right. However, in a situation whereby people are constantly searching for mistakes, they may not know it and can be quick to judge. For instance, politicians and other individuals have used cancel culture to coerce people (Romano, 2021). The acts of cancelling culture stop people from sharing their opinions even though that is the appropriate or necessary action.

Additionally, the current cancellation culture has led to the perpetrator routinely asking for forgiveness for their past errors after a public outcry. The main problem with this outcome is that these individuals solely ask for forgiveness after the public outcry and not after personally acknowledging their mistakes (Romano, 2021). For instance, according to Hassan, people should reach out to the perpetrator and constructively share their thoughts and expose their faulty logic instead of calling them out. Cancel culture affects the habits of individuals negatively. For instance, it causes people to senselessly apologize to people without understanding the cause of the problem.

Unquestionably, cancel culture is toxic when it entails driving an individual to suicide, privacy invasion, or criminal threats. The nature of most social media comments appears to demonstrate that cancelling culture does not necessarily result in positive social change (Hassan, 2021). Similar to cyberbullying, cancel culture spreads hate online. For instance, cancelling culture is illegal since hate crimes are prohibited. The violation of civil rights is viewed as a crime in America, and cancel culture denies citizens who disagree with other people to speak.

The advantage of cancel media is that it typically gives people who have not heard the platform to call out injustices and voice their opinions through social media. It makes individuals impact real-life situations, such as raising awareness against ableism, sexism, or racism. For instance, a canceled entertainer such as Roseanne Barr lost her job and fans after making a racist tweet (Romano, 2020). When correctly used, cancel culture gives absolute power to everyday people and allows them to have such a significant impact in a virtual setting. However, the problem with this outcome is that the legal system does not share the perceptions towards the deviant behavior done by the canceled individuals.

In conclusion, the positive effect of cancel culture does not supersede the adverse impacts of cancel culture, which is harmful and wrongful. Cancel culture should not be allowed. Ordinary folks have been vigilant of individuals who have rejected their values and morals. These deeds of public humiliation have always existed. In the age of social media and technology, social shaming has taken a new name called the cancel culture. Most individuals think it is an essential social justice tool, especially in an environment with substantial power imbalances between influential public figures and the affected communities and individuals. However, cancel culture has become uncontrollable and has allowed other individuals to invade people’s privacy, leading to senseless apologies while encouraging lawlessness. Cancel culture is unavoidable in today’s society, but optimistically, people should make a more positive culture with fair criticism.

Hassan, S. A. (2021). Why cancel culture by anyone is harmful and wrong. Psychology today. Web.

Romano, A. (2020). Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture. Vox. Web.

Romano, A. (2021). The second wave of ”cancel culture.” Vox. Web.

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• The Effects of Video Games on the Brain by Paturel
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• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, December 14). Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cancel-culture-the-adverse-impacts/

"Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts." IvyPanda , 14 Dec. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/cancel-culture-the-adverse-impacts/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts'. 14 December.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts." December 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cancel-culture-the-adverse-impacts/.

1. IvyPanda . "Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts." December 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cancel-culture-the-adverse-impacts/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts." December 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cancel-culture-the-adverse-impacts/.

The Reality of Hook Up Culture

We are not just sex-crazed teenagers..

Posted August 5, 2015 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• College hookup culture is not as black-and-white as the media often portrays it to be.
• By the end of freshman year, most 19-year-olds have made enough mistakes to realize what’s working for them and what’s not.
• Research indicates that casual sex can foster negative emotions in the long run.

For freshmen first arriving at college, the hookup scene is often an unexplored wonderland of boxed wine, cheap lingerie, and sweaty frat parties. Every Friday night, girls don their gold glitter eyeshadow, overpriced Urban Outfitters crop tops, and high-waisted shorts; guys spritz on some Axe, buy a 30-pack, and adjust their snapbacks. After a few too many rounds of cheap vodka shots and Natty Lights, everyone piles into a dank frat house with dirty floors and not enough light, finds another mildly attractive but equally drunk person and makes out with them a bit. Usually, that’s it. Sometimes they go home together. It’s really not a big deal.

Adults seem to think we’re all sex-crazed, emotionless teenagers who have traded relationships for one-night stands, long conversations for heart emojis, and romantic dinners for Tinder dates. Hundreds of people (most of whom happen to be over 30) have analyzed, criticized, and studied this new subculture. Donna Freitas, a professor of religion at Boston University, wrote a book about it: The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture Is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy . Well. That’s a bit dramatic.

As part of an anthropology class last fall, I interviewed 23 freshmen about hookup culture—their experiences, whether they liked it, and why they did it. I found that it’s actually not so black and white. Many college students still have relationships, fall in love, and experience heartbreak. Some also just happen to make out with random people at clubs, use Tinder as a way to meet people, and have lots of casual sex. Others don’t participate at all.

The majority of both genders say they feel pretty good about the hookup scene, and many enthusiastically endorse it. “Hooking up relieves stress , and it gives you some thrill to escape the hours of studying,” said one girl, while another said, “Now, you can just have lovers to fulfill your needs!” When I asked a guy why he participated, he told me, “I just don’t want to put the time and effort into a serious relationship. And I don’t necessarily want to be limited to one girl.”

First-year students want to explore their options and settle into college. Is it so wrong to try to meet as many people as possible while avoiding a serious relationship in the process? Our generation has been labeled as commitment-phobes, but many of us embrace the independence and versatility that comes with a no-strings-attached lifestyle. “You can go out for one night, have fun, then just forget about it,” said one girl.

That’s not to say that sexual promiscuity is the panacea to all relationship woes. In fact, research indicates that it can foster negative emotions in the long run. A study of 200 undergraduates found that 78% of women and 72% of men who had uncommitted sex reported experiencing regret after an encounter, while another study found that men and women who had engaged in casual sex had lower self-esteem scores than those who had not.

One friend at college always felt awful the next day, perfectly playing into the role of the heartbroken female—moping around her dorm room, binge-eating chocolate, and watching cheesy Nicholas Sparks movies to compensate for the lack of emotional connection. Another would freak out for hours about the mysterious texts she received from a guy who consistently treated her with disrespect. He would often have her come over, sleep with her, and then ask her to leave. Later, he might send a sweet text or two. It took her months before she stopped answering.

So hookup culture has its drawbacks. Some students love it and others hate it. But by the end of freshman year, most 19-year-olds have made enough mistakes to realize what’s working for them and what’s not. Emma Teital, a National Magazine Award-winning columnist, sums it up nicely :

Casual sex may grate on the soul, but university is not group therapy . Its sole purpose, I think, beyond higher learning, should be to solidify the world’s indifference to you. If you do that keg stand, you will vomit. If you drink that coagulated milk, you will vomit. If you have empty, meaningless sex throughout college, you’ll become an emotional cripple, contract gonorrhea and, most likely, vomit. These are lessons learned through experience, not indoctrination.

To the adults worried about their children becoming cold-blooded sexual deviants as soon as they get to college: That’s just not going to happen (for most). Freshmen throw themselves into their first year, experience some cheap thrills, and then gradually figure out what they actually need. The friend who watched rom-coms all day realized she wanted a real relationship, not a chain of one-night stands. The other friend began to look for the respect she deserved. Teenagers do learn, if a bit slowly. In that way, I don’t think we’re so different from any other generation that has attended college.

Elena Weissmann is a sophomore at Brown University studying neuroscience and mathematics.

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