Is the hook-up culture on college campuses changing the age-old baseball rules of physical intimacy?

A provocative story by Kimberly Thornbury in Christianity Today cites author Tom Wolfe’s summation of the new baseball analogy for consensual familiarity on campus:

“Today’s first base is kissing. … Second base is oral sex. Third base is going all the way. Home plate is learning each other’s names.”  

Wow. Where’s the umpire?

Interestingly enough, in Old Fashioned, Clay shares a similar observation with Amber during a conversation about the dating norms in our hypersexual culture: “A normal date? You mean where two strangers hop into bed and then try to figure out later if they have anything in common?”

Thornbury’s article states Wolfe’s play “Speak About It” is a popular resource among colleges in the Northeast for sex-education programs aimed at first-year students and offers some sensible reminders about safety and consent. However, her piece also makes it clear that this simply isn’t enough in terms of creating a healthy environment or fostering a healthy understanding of sex.

In our movie, Clay asks: “When did treating women with respect become the joke?”

Perhaps it’s time for a paradigm shift in how men and women treat each other—as well as how we regard sexual intimacy and what it was designed for. We don’t have to go around using each other and hurting each other. It doesn’t HAVE to be that way.

What do you think? What can be done to foster mutual respect and a healthy understanding of sex and its purpose? We’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives.

– Nathan Nazario, Producer