Sexual Privilege: The Effect of Private and Elite Campuses on the College Hookup Scene

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Hookup Culture

Abstract

By employing multivariate logistic regression, this study analyzes the statistical significance of private and academically elite universities on hooking up, paying particular attention to the forms and frequencies of the hookups therein occurring. The results of this study show that private and academically elite campus environments have a statistically significant effect on sexual behavior independent of individual students’ personal characteristics. In particular, although students at these academically elite social realms were more likely to hookup, they exhibited suppressed promiscuity regarding ‘how far’ they actually go sexually. Students at private schools demonstrated a similar sexual restraint. Further analysis in both cases reveals this to be a highly gendered pattern. The results substantiate previous findings of a sexual double standard, double binds, and the aspirational theory of hooking up in privileged social milieus.

Author

• Joshua Mausolf, University of Chicago