<p>Since this is about girls...I thought some might find this article interesting. Guys can have a fun time at NYU.</p>
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<p>Stern junior Shreya Patel is all too familiar with the stressful situations that promiscuous friends can create. </p>
<p>While on a two-week vacation with a group of friends in Europe, one of them, who had a boyfriend at home, spent most of the trip hooking up with random guys. Seventeen random guys, to be exact. </p>
<p>She wasn't sure if she should be angry or concerned. </p>
<p>"It was totally inconsiderate because we spent the whole vacation making sure that some foreign guy didn't rape her," she said. </p>
<p>Patel's friend is not the only one hooking up these days, it seems. Dr. Beth Paul,the College of New Jersey's psychology chair, has been studying the hooking up behavior of college students since the early '90s. She defines hooking up as a one time sexual encounter that includes anything from kissing to intercourse and occurs between acquaintances who have no plans to even speak afterward, let alone repeat the experience. </p>
<p>While Patel's friend had more partners than average in a short time span, Dr. Paul said hooking up is normal for college students.
For some NYU students, it's just simpler. </p>
<p>"Hooking up with someone you don't know is easy, because afterwards, you don't have to deal with the whole awkwardness of the situation," said CAS junior Jeff C., who declined to use his real name. </p>
<p>Most young people want the physical aspects of a relationship, but not the commitment that accompanies it, Paul said. </p>
<p>"Many of the students I talk to say that too much baggage comes along with having a significant other," she said. "At a college level kids might feel like they don't have the time to call everyday. Some even express feeling like a relationship might not make them happy." </p>
<p>CAS junior Debbie Shellmer admits she has had plenty of random hook ups, but none too serious. </p>
<p>"It's fun and it feels good," she said. "You just get caught up in the moment and can't help yourself." </p>
<p>Paul believes that young adults can't restrain themselves from hooking up because of societal norms. </p>
<p>"We live in an instant gratification society, where if we want something we get it," she said. "Quick is the norm." </p>
<p>Since our culture is saturated with sexual images, we don't recognize sexual behavior as being something special, she said. </p>
<p>"It's always sex, sex, sex, everywhere we look, so naturally once you reach your 20's, sex is no big deal," she said. </p>
<p>Oftentimes, the temptations are too strong to resist, Shellmer said. </p>
<p>"Sometimes I just see someone and want them and I don't really care if they ever call me again," she said. "I had a boyfriend for a while, but it was too much stress. I would rather just have the freedom to be with whoever I want." </p>
<p>Marilyn Anderson, a Los Angeles-based writer, dating expert and author of "Never Kiss a Frog: a Girl's Guide to Creatures from the Dating Swamp," said that this laid-back attitude is likely to impair the ability to form meaningful relationships. </p>
<p>"It is very easy to mistake a good hook-up for love or even like," Anderson said. "A physical connection may feel great, but a full sense of intimacy cannot be reached by two people that hardly know each other through sex alone." </p>
<p>Patel said she can't understand how people can hook up without knowing the person. </p>
<p>"I had a boyfriend for a while," Patel said. "We developed more of a friendship so that going further, I feel safe and connected both in mind and body. It baffles me that people can just 'hook up' and have no feelings for someone that they kiss. I truly believe that kissing and sex are just as intimate even though they are very different acts." </p>
<p>But, Shellmer disagrees. </p>
<p>"The thought of only sleeping with one person from now until the day I die is so scary," she said. "Even when I was with my boyfriend, I used to hook up with other guys. I just felt like maybe he wasn't the one and I should see what's out there before I settled." </p>
<p>This hooking-up culture is detrimental to self-esteem, Anderson said. </p>
<p>"If he/she doesn't call or you see them with someone else at a party, you start to question yourself," she said. "'Am I not pretty enough, was I not good enough?' You feel that there is something wrong with you because that person doesn't want you again. When you are just an object being used for pleasure, you can feel that and it hurts." </p>
<p>Hooking up can feel like fun, but in the end it will catch up with you, Paul said. </p>
<p>"On TV and in the movies hooking up is so glamorous and fun that we never see the heartache that goes along with it," she said. "We are tricked and when we realize this, it might be too late. You might just be a body with no emotions."</p>