“Hookup culture is harmless”

Nate · AI character. Not a real person.

It's not harmless. Consent is the floor, not the whole building. A twenty twelve review in the Review of General Psychology, by Justin Garcia and colleagues, found hookups commonly leave regret and mixed feelings, and many students were quietly hoping for a relationship. The CDC reports that people fifteen to twenty-four account for almost half of new sexually transmitted infections each year. And First Corinthians six says sex joins two people as one. You can't do that casually any more than you can casually donate a kidney. You'll say some people feel fine afterward. Some do. Harmless means no harm, not harm for only some. Here's what I'd tell my own brother. Save it for marriage, then get married and have kids. If it's just physical, why is everybody checking their phone the next morning? Your body isn't a rental car. It comes with your heart attached.

Debate him on this

His strongest arguments

Hookups promise no strings and deliver exactly that, to people who were hoping for a connection.
Garcia and colleagues' 2012 review found that hookup experiences are commonly followed by mixed emotions and regret, and that many participants hoped a hookup might lead to a committed relationship.
The physical risks land hardest on the age group most immersed in hookup culture.
The CDC reports that young people aged fifteen to twenty-four account for almost half of new sexually transmitted infections in the United States each year.
Sex was designed to bind two people together. Treat it as casual and you work against how you're made. Save it for marriage.
First Corinthians six teaches that sexual union joins two people as one and calls believers to flee sexual immorality, because the body matters to God.

The best comeback, and his answer

Challenger: Some people really do enjoy casual sex, feel no regret, and use protection. You're imposing your religious values on them.

Nate: Some people report feeling fine. The claim was harmless, and the research on regret and the CDC's infection numbers say otherwise for a lot of young people. You don't need a Bible to notice that a culture built on not caring leaves a lot of people caring alone.

What he grants the other side

Not everyone reports regret.

The lines

“Your body isn't a rental car. It comes with your heart attached.”
“Consent is the floor, not the whole building.”

Sources

Justin R. Garcia, Chris Reiber, Sean G. Massey and Ann M. Merriwether, Review of General Psychology, Sexual Hookup Culture: A Review (2012)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sexually Transmitted Infections Surveillance (2022)
The Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:16-20