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everyday sex in college — known colloquially as " lift up " — gets a lot of attention for purportedly being unhealthy for women . But a new study finds that nobble up may in reality allow women more intimate bureau than traditional dinner dates .

The investigator do n’t urge a world without dates , but they do observe that college students often nurse a intimate double standard around day of the month that is relatively relaxed when it comes to in - the - minute hookups . Inhookup scenario , the study found , students are open to a fair sex taking the sexual lead . When analyze a see scenario , however , the students be given to fall back on traditional grammatical gender role , more often get into that men were only concerned in sexual practice and fair sex in trying not to seem " slutty . "

A guy and girl kiss.

A couple in the bedroom.

That ’s not to say that hookup are a paradise for cleaning lady , said study researcher Sinikka Elliott , a sociologist at North Carolina State University . It ’s just that dating might not be the sanctuary that it ’s made out to be .

" Other assemblage literature has n’t often looked at dates but suggests dating is proficient for womanhood , " Elliott told LiveScience . " These findings suggest a more complicated picture . "

No strings attached

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Indeed , contrastingno - strings - bond encounterswith committed family relationship is not as simple as it seems . A 2007 written report published in the daybook The Gendered Society Reader find that 67 per centum of students in a retentive - terminal figure family relationship had started out with at least one hookup and one date before the relationship became single . And the students were n’t hooking up willy - nilly : 47 percent of cleaning woman and 35 percent of men said they ’d shield interest in a family relationship with their last hookup partner before the gender took situation .

Elliott and her fellow worker to begin with launched their experiment as a schoolroom exercise into the sexual threefold standard — the idea that easy guy are " studs , " while women who have sexuality are " sluts . " They asked student to write anonymously about a hypothetical hookup situation , expecting to rule harsh judgment for the woman in the scenario and a pass for the man . That ’s not what find , Elliot said .

" They talked a pile about ' Girls like to get some too , you know , ' " Elliott tell . " We were kind of amused , because if you read the responses , it was like they were trying to develop us , like , ' fair sex get horny , this is how it mold these days . ' " [ 10 Facts About the Teen Brain ]

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surprise by the result , the research worker analyzed the responses in - depth . A aggregate of 273 undergraduates had read a account in which a serviceman and a woman meet at a party , hit it off , and have " a dark of wild sex . " The fictional duet then goes on a dinner party date the next week , which ends with a kiss , but no more sexuality .

In half of the stories , the assemblage come about at the woman ’s star sign , and then the man asks her out for a date . In the other one-half , the hookup hap at the man ’s firm , and the charwoman initiates the dinner engagement .

Next , the students , all undergraduates around the age of 19 , were asked to drop a line what find in the situation from either the humans or the woman ’s point of scene .

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snarf up and formal date

The student ' account for both the man ’s and the fair sex ’s behavior were nuanced , sometimes echoingtraditional gender stereotypesand sometimes break with them completely . The most common explanation for the wild assemblage for both the hypothetical military personnel and char was for pleasure and desire . " She probably just wanted to get some , " one woman wrote .

Likewise , student broke with stereotypes to point out that men desire relationship , too . The most common explanation for the sexless date night — whether from a manlike or distaff position — was that the somebody was concerned in a human relationship and wanted to get to know their married person better .

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In other case , gender stereotypes prevail . Students were more likely to assign thewoman ’s sexual desireon the night of the hookup to inebriant ( even though none was mentioned in the vignette ) or a moment of wild spontaneity . The guy wire ’s decisiveness to hook up was more often assign to a " guy inherent aptitude " or premeditate plan .

" The guy is obviously a pimp thespian and love how to work it with the ladies , " one male responder wrote . " It is always a guy ’s objective to make with a bird whenever he has the chance . "

But it was in explain the no - sexual practice date where stereotypes came out in force . Of the students asked to explain the woman ’s behavior , 47 percent said she did n’t push for gender because she was trying to salvage her repute from the night of wild sex . In a representative passage , one distaff student explains that the woman credibly regretted her assemblage in the morning and was belike surprised when the guy asked her out on a date .

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" She did n’t want to fuck it up this clock time , so she determine they would take it slow , and that ’s why it ended with a kiss , " the bookman wrote .

Only 12 percent of the student suggested that the man would need tosalvage his reputationafter the hookup .

In another gender split , 41 percent of the pupil propose that the appointment had stop without sex because the man had only concur to go on the escort out of pity .

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" He hit it and quit it , used her , matte up delight , scram over the infatuation and moved on , " one woman pen . In contrast , only 8 percentage of students suggest that the woman had agreed to the date out of fellow feeling for the man .

Sexual tortuousness

The message , Elliott tell , is n’t that hooking up is better than date , especially give research that finds that women areless sexually satisfiedthan men by these one - night stands . Rather , she said , the take - away is like a Facebook status message : It ’s complicated .

A person holding a razor and a wax strip.

" Hookups are a pathway to a lot of college relationships , " Elliott said . " A lot of hookups are repeat hookups , so the fact that our scenario presents an anonymous hookup does n’t help oneself us to understand that . "

The researcher reported their results in the October 2011 issue of the daybook Gender and Society .

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