Headline Roundup • October 19th, 2026
Is Casual Sex Problematic?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Several outlets and commentators have recently offered opinions on casual sex and whether it's unhealthy for individuals and/or society on a larger scale.
Consensual, But 'Predatory': Emily Jashinsky (Lean Right bias) wrote on X, "Consensual hookup culture often feels predatory to women because... it is. It preys on women's desire for monogamy and coupling and love, which many believe there's a chance of receiving even after casual sex." She blamed Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper for playing into the hands of "frat bros" and "dudes" in general by "trying to convince so many women they can and should have sex like men" and making "millions" by doing so. Jashinsky argued that women "experience sex differently and just can't – on average – have casual hookups so easily."
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Pearl-Clutching: Northeastern University senior Taylor Zinnie of The Huntington News (Lean Left) said casual sex has become "the favorite villain of hand-wringing adults, who point to noncommittal hookups as evidence that young people have traded traditional courtship for instant gratification." She blamed "the moralistic crusade against hookups" on "dated assumptions that reveal far more about our discomfort with loosening cultural attitudes than they do about casual sex itself." Zinnie argued "unclear and misaligned expectations" are what often lead to "confusion" or "disappointment" and that "committed romance" shouldn't necessarily be "the standard against which all other relationships should be judged." In her conclusion, Zinnie claimed, "The strongest relationships are built by people who have taken the time to get to know both themselves and each other," and that "a little adventure is not the enemy of intimacy; surrendering our agency to shame and expectation is."
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Sexual Violence: Deseret News (Center) published an opinion that in one part argued, "The separation of sex from a healthy, committed relationship means it is no longer an intimate encounter but rather a lustful one that risks objectifying partners for one's own gratification. Paired with a lack of empathy, these social dynamics create the perfect storm in which sexual violence is enabled." The writers added, "Self-mastery, including delayed or denied gratification, enables success in all of life's ends, moral and non-moral. The pursuit of pleasure alone is not the problem; the problem is the pursuit ungoverned by the wisdom of reason and morality."
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Recent reports of sexual assault, such as the so-called Cornell 7's assault of Jane Doe, have rightly renewed calls to action in changing the cultures and social structures that perpetuate sexual violence.
Responses have largely concentrated on the need to prosecute perpetrators so they carry the responsibility for their vile and violent acts, rather than blaming victims. We have also seen calls to teach boys how to respect women and to hold systems accountable when they fail to facilitate the aforementioned.
Consensual hookup culture often feels predatory to women because... it is. It preys on women's desire for monogamy and coupling and love, which many believe there's a chance of receiving even after casual sex. Frat bros around America are indebted to Alex Cooper for trying to convince so many women they can and should have sex like men. It's led to men having a lot more casual sex because women choose to have it. That norm is great for dudes, but women often end up feeling preyed upon and exploited...
Anton Chernyavskiy Unsplash
Hookup culture is corrupting an entire generation, or so I'm told. Emotional apathy, fleeting connection, the collapse of commitment: All roads lead back to casual sex.
It's the favorite villain of hand-wringing adults, who point to noncommittal hookups as evidence that young people have traded traditional courtship for instant gratification. Even among students themselves, casual sex has become a scapegoat — the reason someone can't find love, the explanation for why the dating scene feels so bleak, the easiest excuse when a situationship goes up in flames.
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