Undergraduates at the of University of Chicago created a Web site where students can have free access to online hook-ups. The Web site, eduHookups.com, is aimed at college students looking to have a quick way to have a quickie.
The news gets better. The Web site has expanded to include students of Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago and Brown University.
Proponents defend the site, claiming that it is a new and safe way for students to have casual, no-strings-attached sex. As Jay Leno joked on The Tonight Show, “We already have that. It’s called college.” I have to concur. Since when did a college need a Web site to jumpstart its social scene? Even all-girls universities have students who smuggle boys into their dorm rooms.
The site is similar to Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters,” which also boasted easy access to easy people. Yes, the same subsection of Craigslist that Philip Markoff, the Craigslist Killer, went surfing on for his victims. But, no worries. eduHookups requires a “.edu” in the email address to register in order to ensure that it’s a student you’re talking to. Hmm, Markoff’s medical school had an “.edu” email address, too.
U Chicago students have stepped up to claim that the site is no more dangerous than other dating sites. However, eHarmony’s motto isn’t synonymous with eduHookups’s tagline of “Celibacy is curable if caught early.” While eduHookups’s slogan is humorous, the message can be dangerous just the like the meaning of the site. The Web site is essentially saying that anyone who posts, and responds to, meeting up, is looking for sex. It poses the very real possibility that, if a girl shows up and changes her mind, things might not go so well.
A healthy sex life is essential. The key word there being “healthy.” Meeting strangers on the Internet for a one-hour stand is not the safest way to do it. And, just because they’re students, it doesn’t mean they’re safe. It just means that they sit next to you in class.
