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Title details for Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp - Available

Unhooked

How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both

by Laura Sessions Stepp
Ellen Archer
Audiobook
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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 intercourse.


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."

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 15, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400123995
      • File size: 263847 KB
      • Duration: 09:09:40

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A journalist explains the current epidemic of disconnected sex--"hooking up"--and how it harms young women. Based on research with college students, this program is an exposé and analysis of how recent social forces have created such a culture. Providing a rich historical context and avoiding psychobabble, Stepp says some of the causes of this trend are less on-campus supervision, a loosening of moral standards, and the general empowerment of women. In particular, young women imagine they have more control and autonomy when they don't become emotionally involved with the men they sleep with. The expert discussion is enhanced by Ellen Archer's no-nonsense reading, which sounds casual but involves careful emotional resonance with the content. I can't imagine a more skilled and appealing performance. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 26, 2007
      In her second book, journalist Stepp (Our Last Best Shot) gets an inside perspective on the "hookup," which has become the "primary currency of social interaction" between the sexes in high schools and colleges. Though it's clear where Stepp, mother of three, stands in regard to "hooking up"-a no-strings-attached sex act that allows participants "the freedom to unhook" at any time-Stepp has a seasoned pro's ability to step back, examining carefully and sympathetically the "cultural shift" in its particulars, through the individual stories of interviewees, as well as in its broader cultural impact. Inspired by a series of articles she wrote on eighth-grade oral sex rings for The Washington Post in 1998 ("two years before the popularity of oral sex in middle schools percolated through the media"), Stepp avoids breathless sensationalism, preferring instead to explore the meaning of "hooking up," its fallout, potential long-range consequences for women and men, and the factors that have allowed such a shift to take place-wisely asking, "Where are young women's teachers?" rather than "What is wrong with these girls?" Though it would have benefited from a winnowing of interviews, this insightful study is vivid and engaging, and includes a practical conversation guide for mothers and daughters, making it a valuable text for parents that goes beyond the latest the-kids-are-not-alright headlines.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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