Remember that huge crush you had on that cute kid in your seventh grade pre-algebra class? You daydreamed in class about how you’d totally go to first base with him after your parents dropped you off at the movies. Maybe even second base if you were one of those girls.
Oh yes, the bases certainly do bring back fond memories of when any sexual encounter could be summed up in a simple, baseball-inspired response to the question, “How far did you go?” And while the bases were a way to discuss our young sex lives in a sort of secret code, they were also a system of checkpoints in the natural progression of a sexual relationship.
By junior year in high school, our fondness for the bases had diminished, and the terminology had completely disappeared by the time we arrived at Wash. U.
Now we use “hooking up,” generally defined as anything from kissing to sex, in order to obscure the dirty details.
So what about the system of checkpoints? It’s pretty obvious that things have changed since seventh grade at the movies. If the majority of girls are expected to give head during the first hook-up, does that mean giving head is the new “first base?”
Despite what you may be thinking, this does not appear to be the case. At most, the traditional first and second bases (that is, making out and feeling up) seem to have been combined into one, and blow jobs are the new hand jobs.
But as for a general campus mentality on hooking up, most students choose to set their own standards.
Junior Whitney Button explains, “What’s more important than defining what is appropriate and inappropriate is making sure that you are comfortable with what you’re doing and you feel safe. It’s just something you need to judge for yourself.”
Most students agree that the promiscuous hook-up culture is far more popular among underclassmen, but that does not necessarily determine what comprises the sexual experiences. The possibility of dating, however, does often change how the relationship progresses.
Pat Fahey, a sophomore currently in a relationship, says that he likes to, “take things at a much slower pace if [he] thinks it might lead to a relationship.” Fahey also noted that many of his friends have also chosen to “settle down” this year and take it slowly.
Making your own decisions dependent upon the situation is considered to be far more fashionable than pre-designating certain acts as necessary or taboo.
“I think people should accept the fact that as human beings, our natural instincts are to have sex,” explains senior Laelle Busch. “People will do with that as they please and shouldn’t be judged one way or the other-active or inactive.”
So the next time you run into that hottie from Calc II subsection and agree to go back to his room, there’s no need to turn it into a play-by-play of the other night’s Cardinals game. But if you feel like you’re ready to make it to home plate, make sure he’s wearing a glove.