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Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both | 
 enlarge | Author: Laura Sessions Stepp
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $3.39
You Save: $21.56 (86%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 235444
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1594489386
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.73084220973
EAN: 9781594489389
ASIN: 1594489386
Publication Date: February 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: May contain remainder marks. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling books online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: A20081202172507C
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Product Description
An eye-opening examination of the hookup culture, seen through the personal experiences of high school-and college-age women who confront the hard lessons of dating, love, and sex. We're living in an increasingly sexualized world, and it's the young-particularly young women-who must deal with the consequences. Kids are having more sexual contact than ever, and at an earlier age. They call it "hooking up." But what is "hooking up"? According to Laura Sessions Stepp, a reporter at The Washington Post, hooking up eludes a neat definition. It can be anything from an innocent kiss to sexual. In Unhooked, Stepp follows three groups of young women (one in high school, one each at Duke and George Washington universities). She sat with them in class, socialized with them, listened to them talk, and came away with some disturbing insights, including that hooking up carries with it no obligation on either side. Relationships and romance are seen as messy and time-consuming, and love is postponed-or worse, seen as impossible. Some young women can handle this, but many can't, and they're being battered-physically and emotionally-by the new dating landscape. The result is a generation of young people stymied by relationships and unsure where to turn for help. "The need to be connected intimately to others is as central to our well-being as food and shelter," Stepp writes in Unhooked. "In my view, if we don't get it right, we're probably not going to get anything else in life right."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Well-done, tells a very concerning story September 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading this book and "Unhooked Generation" (Jillian Straus) right before it, I'm more cynical than ever about the state of romantic relationships between males and females.
In this book, Stepp recounts time spent with young women on a couple of college campuses and in a high school. She shares what they went through in dealing with males on a romantic level - if you can call it that - and it's not pretty. The tales are largely ones of not feeling anything for those they share themselves with, of not knowing what anything really means, and where connecting with someone of the opposite sex and building a relationship is basically frowned upon. Then in a few cases where one of them does find someone they really connect with and feel something for, they do things to sabotage it - cheat on the guy by "hooking up" with others, or simply push him away or back away because they're scared of what it may mean.
There are some striking stories in the book, some that brought a reaction out of me as I read them. Most of the time, it wasn't a positive one, because what this book tells is a concerning story. It paints a picture of a world where no-strings-attached sex is the norm and women want it as much as men, and all the while, feelings are pushed aside at every turn. Stepp even shares how some of the young women do whatever it takes to try and turn off their feelings before they sleep with a man, and the disappointment many have felt from the experience - that is, when they haven't come away feeling nothing at all.
The book is well-done, and tells stories that need to be told of the internal struggles many young women go through. Unlike "Unhooked Generation", which ended with some happy stories, no stories with the young women Stepp spent time with have such an ending. In particular, one that looked like it may have had a chance ended because of both wanting to focus more on a career. So if you're old-fashioned like I am, brace yourself because the story this book tells isn't the most pleasant, but it's well worth reading, especially for anyone who is a parent of young girls, because nothing happens in a vacuum and that includes the state of relationships between young men and women today.
Hooking up, numbing out July 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unhooked exposes the often shocking realities of the hookup cultures and mentalities permeating not only college campuses, but also high schools and middle schools today. The candid accounts of the females interviewed for the book reveal that on the surface, hooking up (regularly and indiscriminately) may seem to be the solution for young women whose lives are already over-committed and whose passions are focused on achieving a successful career--while avoiding the potential encumbrances of emotional relationships. But, underneath it all, these young women still desire to "love and be loved." Painting the picture of the hookup culture in all its vivid colors and eye-opening/jaw-dropping details, Laura Session Stepp reveals the current plight of young women who relate with their bodies--at the expense of their psyches and hearts.
 a must read in this area May 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read a lot of books on this subject and I have to say that this is one of the best...if not depressing. Rather than just citing a bunch of statistics (which she does have,) she really gets into the mindset of several young women and follows thier lives and thier romantic relationships for a while to give a good glimpse of dating in America today. I wish her examples weren't only from the DC area but I still would highly recommend this book and will likely reread it.
Over Idealism in Unhooked March 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Chesney Lind Criminologist points out a critical factor that can not be ignored in regards to feminist theory: males can not simply be ignored when analyzing the behavior of females. This is precicely what Laura Sessions Stepp fails to do in her book. The book itself is actually phenomenal and informative. She is very idealistic in terms of love and being in love however. I am not sure that that type of relationship is reasonably sustained over a lifetime. Rather, I believe as she points out too that a marriage is about commitment and work. I question her belief that you will remain in love throughout a lifetime. But what do I know as a college student. I also question how uniform the hook up culture is as a college student. I have never participated in it unless under the guise that is would lead to a relationship which for me it always did. Although, these and similar books are good books they also fail to address sex in relationships. Instead, they make it seem almost as though you should feel obligated to have sex immediately in a relationship sjince all the other girls are "hooking up" and the guy could get it for free anyway. I am disappointed that the book failed to address the damaging effects of having sex to early in a relationship as well. Also, I am unclear as to how many people hook up since i am not involved in a sorority and do not really party. However, I would hardly say college age students have abandoned the practice of dating. Despite all of this the book is a very good read. It is informative and reminds you to stick to your values or to re-evaluate those that are lacking.
 The Price of Being "Unhooked" from Exploitation by Men March 5, 2008
1 out of 9 found this review helpful
Ms. Stepp does a good job of describing the "Hook Up" culture, but I can only think that her opinions about it come from the patriarchy or the Religious Right (same difference), especially since the author basically said that the only thing keeping people from indiscriminate sex is religion (she recommends that parents take their children to church instead of dragging them around to soccer and Suzuki).
The author is worried about the behavior of girls, but the only thing that's happening is that the girls are acting the exact same way that guys have always acted. Maybe women are finally and truly liberated at last and the culture is undergoing a positive change. Why isn't she worried about how the guys have always acted, like predators?
Maybe "the guys" need a dose of their own medicine. Maybe this is happening because women are tired of having their lives screwed up by men.
Maybe Ms. Stepp is only capable of analyzing the ramifications of the "Hook Up" culture, based on the way things used to be, and assuming that the way things used to be was better. Maybe there is a change going on for the better, that women are refusing to be victimized and exploited, and she missed it.
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