Hook up Culture

by Haiden Van Amburg

STFX Student

To start this off I will say that I haven’t the faintest clue as to what a real relationship is supposed to look like; but I do know what a hookup is like from being a member of the three groups that hookup culture is the most predominant, those being the queer community, the university community, and the Gen Z community. I get to speak as part of all these groups because two of them I have been part of for many years now, however the university community has not been as long, but I still do have experience in it.

   From the point of view of the queer community hookup culture is very big, this may be do in part that for a very long time queer relationships were a crime but, unlike then, here in 2025 a queer relationship isn’t a crime nor is it something to hide and be

ashamed of; yet this is what hookup culture makes it out to be. From what I have seen, everyone in the queer community has had at least one experience of hookup culture and this seems to be the type of relationship that people in the queer community look

for. Moving on to the university community, I have been at my university since August of 2024 so I have had some time to see what it’s like and I can say with full confidence that, yes, hookup culture is extremely big here, too.

   I have seen different rooms, just in my building, where different guys or girls have been coming in and out all day and when you ask someone about whether or not they wish to have a committed relationship they all have a similar answer which is this, “No, why would I want a committed relationship? That means if I think some one else is good looking I can’t do anything about it and I have to stay committed to my partner so, no, I don’t want a real relationship, just a hookup.”

   Now moving on to the Gen Z side of things, it is so common and just generally accepted that with this generation you don’t have a committed relationship because that comes with feelings and headache so people will say that they would much rather just hook up with people - even if it’s the same person over and over again because, well, once they get bored of the situation they can just cut it off with no mess to come with it.

   With all of these communities there is a common denominator and that is that people don’t want to work and put the effort in what it takes to have a real relationship, so with hookup culture they don’t have to worry about working or putting in that effort to keep up a relationship. So, in conclusion, I leave you all with this: if someone isn’t worth putting effort into having a real relationship then they aren’t worth giving yourself to for a hookup.