World News and Trends: "Hooking up" endangers sexual health of young adults, teens
A new trend among young people, "hooking up," is gaining steam in western culture.
In reporting from New York City for The Sunday Times Oct. 10, Sarah Baxter identifies a "new" trend among young adults and teenagers. It's called "hooking up." It involves a range of illicit sexual activities including heavy petting, oral intimacy and outright intercourse. This damaging practice has already spread to many schools and campuses.
The article describes this so-called "new" phenomenon in the following terms. "You hook up with them, nothing more. You are free to string them along or hook up with somebody else at the same time. It is important not to "catch feelings' or fool yourself that you are in love." This practice obviously contemplates divorcing sex from love.
A new book about it titled The Happy Hook-Up: A Single Girl's Guide to Casual Sex, has recently been published in America. Apparently 3,000 women were interviewed and fully one quarter agreed that they could indulge in one-night stands without becoming emotionally attached to their partners.
"Hooking up" is viewed as a way for young women to focus on their careers and still indulge in sexual intimacy. One famous actress, now divorced, even said that one-night stands "give her time to be a mother."
Other new names have emerged for similar behavior. "Friends with benefits," "bed buddies" and "hookup buddies" are now the popular terms for young men and women who are acquaintances or friends, but whose relationship also includes casual sexual relations with no commitment, no strings attached and no expectations. Sexual activity between the two is purely for self-gratification, nothing more.
The fruits of this destructive lifestyle are amply illustrated by what is now happening in Britain. Said the Daily Mail (Sept. 30): "Teenage promiscuity has led to a record number of girls being infected with sexually transmitted diseases which can destroy fertility. Shocking statistics show that one in eight girls aged 16 to 19 are carrying chlamydia, which often has no symptoms."
Single motherhood and abortions as a form of birth control also emerge as even more negative results of old-fashioned casual sex, dressed up a little differently to make it more attractive to its unsuspecting victims. And, as might be expected, the emotional toll is proving to be devastating in the long run, as some are discovering.
If you would like to know how God views these lifestyles, please request the free booklets The Ten Commandments and Making Life Work. The publishers of The Good News also publish a free magazine for teens and young adults called Vertical Thought. (Sources: The Sunday Times, Daily Mail [both London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: November - December 2004
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
