Hookup culture in college isn’t a new thing. Lots of people come to college and begin to experiment with their sexuality, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be within the bounds of the relationship. Enter: hooking up.
It would be easy to meet up with someone you find attractive, invite them back to your room to do “homework” and you just have sex with no questions asked (other than consent because that’s important boys and girls). Maybe you’d continue to do it a few more times because why not? It was a simpler time.
Now, it’s changed. The 2016 election has literally changed everything. The results of this election polarized the entire country, including college students, which has affected the way we hook up with people. Now politics are tacked on to the common list of questions we ask people before having sex with them? “Are you clean?” “Do you have a condom?” “Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner?” “Is your roommate home?” Now we have to add, “Hey who did you vote for?” It seems most people don’t want to hookup with someone who has different moral values!
The question remains… Does the current political climate affect the way we hookup in college? And If so, how do we deal with it? To answer that question I talked to a friend of mine who shall remain nameless. They would like to be addressed as “Sadboi.”
Sadboi answered the question of how to bring up to conversation of politics when hooking up. They explained that politics are such a touchy subject that it would be no different than asking the “What are we?” question.
Not only does it change hookup culture in person, but also online. People on Tinder are now expressing their political views in photos and in their bios. According to Sadboi, they won’t swipe right on someone who has a photo or description expressing the opposite of their political views, even if they find them attractive.
So it has changed the game. Politics are so polarizing now that college kids are more likely to want to hook up with people who share the same political views as them.
However, accidents happen, and you may find yourself in a sexual encounter with someone who has completely contradicting opinions to yours. What do you do in a situation where it does happen to come up? Personally I avoid giving an opinion and just ever so slightly changing the subject. Sadboi does the same. “It [Politics] becomes one of those questions that you just don’t ask,” according to them.
I’ve heard my friends say that they would never hookup/sleep with someone who is from X political party or who voted for X person. It’s crazy that the outcome of an election has changed the way we have sex and who we have sex with.
There is also the opposing side, which is the “Oh their politics don’t matter,” “It’s just sex,” “You can like someone who doesn’t support your political views,” type of people. Sadboi disagrees. They believe that your political views “contain your strongest morals.” So if someone doesn’t share your political views, they don’t share your morals and that becomes an issue. “Theoretically you can be with someone, but there will always be a rift.”
The hookup game has changed thanks to our new political climate, but should it really be a deciding factor in choosing who you’re intimate with? There’s no judgement. You can have sex with whoever you want, as long you ask the most important question of consent.