Hook-Up Culture

Hook-Up Culture –Jack Grimes
It seems, for me, that Grimes shifts back and forth between acceptable evidence and fallacy. He touches on an aspect of commitment and power that I find interesting. According to Grimes, hooking up is easier and less vulnerable than having a relationship, but those involved gain a great sense of power.
First, he explains that power is involved in the act of sexual intimacy. And that nothing is more powerful than feeling the “liveliness” of sex between two people. Something very “powerful” is achieved when consensual sex is practiced. In my opinion, the generation of which Grimes speaks is one that often seeks power without extensive work. More than every, people—especially the youth—are celebrity obsessed and want to live the life of Britney Spears without working for it. This is not to say that many, many people aspire and achieve through hard work, but it only takes a few minutes of watching MTV to validate my point.
Maybe our college-aged youth find hooking up so appealing because of that power aspect Grimes mentioned. After all, hooking up requires little emotional work and only physical vulnerability is needed. If someone hooks up with another for the night, his or her relationship is based on only a few hours of commitment. Therefore it is much easier to accomplish than trying to forge ahead with a traditional relationship, which required a great deal of work and compromise.
Grimes also noted what hooking up is about “…holding back, not giving one’s self, not committing.” This ties into the vulnerability aspect discussed earlier. It takes a level of commitment and maturity to let one’s self become vulnerable and allow another person a level of power.
Grimes did note that he finds the notion of sexual and powerful women “strange.” I think this does nothing to further his claims and most likely will distract his target audience, leaving some of his other claims in the dust. He calls women that hook up prostitutes, while not referring to men in the same way. This is not a fair and balanced explanation of both sides. If one is powerful, then so is the other.