One thing that I never understood is the hookup culture between men and women, especially in college students. Why is it cool for men to have a high body count but if women do then they are known as sluts? If a guy has hooked up with a lot of girls their friends will congratulate them and will think it’s a flex. But if a girl has a high body count, then they are judged by everyone for getting around too much. So why is this so normal?
Hookup culture is a huge double standard. I think people need to focus more on the person and who they are instead of worrying about how many bodies the other has. I don’t understand why body counts are the make-it-or-break-it to some people. A person shouldn’t be defined by how many people they’ve hooked up with. One of my friends once told me they wanted to stop talking to a girl that he liked because her body count was too high for him. But it’s perfectly fine for him to have a higher one? Why does he care so much about it and why would you cut off someone you like because of it.
Over the summer I binged Love Island USA, Season 6, and formed a huge attachment to the show. Love Island is a dating reality show where single people live in a villa in Fiji for two months trying to find love. During one of the episodes, the islanders played a game guessing everyone’s body counts. One of the couples paired up was Jana Craig and Coye Simmons. When Jana revealed her body count of 22, Coye expected it to be lower and was offended by it. He then made some side comments about it to the boys. It was later revealed that Coye’s body count was 150 which Jana was shocked by because he lied to her that it was lower. Even for the rest of the couples, the girl’s body counts were always so much lower than the boys. Nobody was ever fazed by it because it is a normal concept in our culture.
Watching this scene infuriated me and was hard to watch. Coye being so upset about Jana’s body count while his body count is six times more than hers is not fair to her. After the game, they both had a conversation where Coye was questioning her past relationships and was basically judging her. Jana also got upset by his reveal and said, “I don’t know why it’s like impressive, it’s not a flex”. I never understood why Coye even thought he had the right to judge Jana after his body count was revealed. It is not fair for men to do this, and it needs to be less normalized.
I think for a lot of men in college, hooking up with a lot of girls is a self-esteem thing. It can boost their confidence knowing that they have a high body count and can think they are better than or more attractive than their friends. I am not saying that every single male has this kind of mentality, but a lot of them do and it applies to most guys that I know. I also think that many college students may feel pressure to participate in hookup culture because of the social scene and the normalization of it. College parties and individuals under the influence make it easier to engage in casual hookups.
Overall, I believe there should be no judgment regarding body counts and no double standards when it comes to males and females.
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