Modern sex culture promised liberation and autonomy for women, but research and real-life experiences are exploring the unexpected cost of hooking up.
Casual sex isn’t inherently harmful but for some people, overlooking personal needs or emotional boundaries can take an emotional toll.
Despite the promise of freedom and easy intimacy, hookups don’t always feel empowering and for some women, they can lead to unexpected feelings of depletion.
DW spoke to several women from North America, Europe and parts of Asia who spoke of hookups that gave feelings of short-term confidence but also made deeper intimacy harder.
Heather, a 40-year-old woman from the US, describes this tension as leaving her feeling "empty, sad, and temporarily empowered, but always craving more." When engaging in casual sex, she regularly tried to turn off her emotions, which felt like "cutting off a part" of herself.
Her des
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