More teenagers hooking up
• Gender Studies
A look at the social life of 21st century suburban teenagers where dating can be annoying but hooking up and messing around are fun.
I first met Jesse online at facethejury.com, one of many Internet sites popular with high-school and college students, where teenagers can post profiles, exchange e-mail and arrange to hook up. (Though facethejury.com, like many such sites, requires members to be 18, younger teenagers routinely lie about their age.) Over the course of several months spent hanging out and communicating online with nearly 100 high-school students (mostly white, middle- and upper-middle-class suburban and exurban teenagers from the Northeast and Midwest), I heard the same thing: hooking up is more common than dating.
Benoit Denizet-Lewis, Friends, Friends With Benefits and the Benefits of the Local Mall