Hook Up Culture

Cultural and Familial Values
Throughout the interviews, a common theme emerged: respondents’ parents were generally reluctant to discuss sexuality. Instead, parents’ communication about sex and relationships was often indirect. Many respondents described sex as a topic that never naturally came up in conversation. Catherine, a female of Korean descent, recalled:
“My parents would be very upset if they knew I was hooking up. They definitely wouldn’t be okay with it. I mean, we don’t ever talk about sex or anything like that, but even when they met my boyfriend, they kept saying things like ‘Oh, you guys are just really good friends, right?’ They’re just very much in denial.”

Other respondents expressed difficulty remembering any messages about sexual behavior from their parents. As James elaborated,
“I think culture plays a
There was no “single story” for the respondents. Instead, it seemed that a wide variety of factors influenced their perceptions and opinions of hookup culture.

Sexualized Racism When asked about their lack of participation in hookup culture, almost all respondents reported experiences of sexualized racism. Female respondents reported a number of experiences reflecting problematic stereotypes of the Asian woman as hyperfeminine (and therefore more desirable). Specifically, all of the female respondents spoke of experiences with “yellow fever.” Yellow fever is a phenomenon in which white men fetishize Asian women due to fantasies about their exotic sexuality. For example, Ellie recounted:
“I once overheard my white ex-boyfriend talking to his friend about how ‘exotically sexy’ I was as an Asian girlfriend.”

Another respondent, Catherine,