 "Photo: Karl McDonald")
The romantic notion of love may be losing relevance in contemporary society, a visiting professor said Wednesday in a talk at the E.P. Schoch Building.
"It's so easy, that stereotype that Victorian culture was repressive across the board, when in fact, emotionally, we're the ones who are repressed," said Bethany Ogdon, an adjunct professor at St. Edward's University.
In her research, along with interactions with students in the classroom, she said she found an increasing number of students interested only in casual sex with no emotional attachment.
A new middle class, which sprung up in the Industrial Age brought with it the "romantic couple," she said. With the gap between rich and poor shrinking and the middle class eroding, that concept may be on its way out the door, Ogdon said.
She said she was shocked to find that hooking up is becoming the norm even amongst pre-teens, while people in relationships can sometimes feel ostracized by their peers. There was even one instance where a young girl's mother found it odd that she was in a relationship, Ogdon said.
"We used to have crushes when we were younger," she said. "Even if it never worked out, there was still the ideal."
This change in attitude may have been brought about by a work-oriented capitalist society that makes people hesitant to interact with others, Ogdon said.
"Even when you run into somebody in the supermarket, there's a sense of an invisible tapping of the foot and checking your watch," she said.
The freedom to have sex has gone up, while the freedom to love has gone down, Ogdon said.
Architecture freshman Maiya Lewis said she does not think love ranks high on the average student's priority list.
"As far as dating," Lewis said, "the way it is now, people aren't concerned with getting into long-term relationships."
Especially for students, the concern is less about love than it is about having fun, Lewis said.
Ideas about love seem antiquated, said anthropology junior Takashi Makino.
"Perhaps it's because they are based on things that really don't exist in the same ways as they used to," Makino said. "It's entirely culturally constructed. You have to put in time, effort and money to be in love. Hooking up might just be more convenient."
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