"Unhooked" Review

Wow. There are just so many things about this book that warrant a 1-star review.  I just finished "Unhooked" by Laura Sessions Stepp and it was absolutely awful.  Below are some of the many many things that I did not like about the book.

1) Sensationalist Reporting: This book is obviously nothing more than an attempt by the author to create a book that sells.  She has tons of stories that are so clearly the exception rather than the norm but she suggests that these stories reflect on an entire culture.

2) Poor Study Design and over-generalizations: The author uses a "Case-Series" study design in which the author talks to less than 100 woman about their personal as well as these women's friends' experiences.  She then suggests that this data is reflective of the entire population of college youth in the current generation.  The author interviews almost entirely woman in the "Greek" or "Sorority" life and then suggests that these woman are reflective of the entire college woman's population. 

3) Incredible Bias while trying to paint a picture of "objective" research: The author begins the book by stating that she will merely be reporting on the "hookup" culture in an unbiased way.  However, the author then proceeds to use very judgmental language such as, my favorite line, "Hookups which are, by definition, self-centered and selfish [. . .]."

4) Finally, one particular theme in the book that I found to be absolutely ridiculous is the author's idea that people involved in the "hookup culture" are being so impacted that they will no longer want what she refers to as "real relationships."  The author then interviews many women who were previously involved in the "hookup culture" who have met boys and are now involved in these so called "real relationships."  The contradiction in this seems to blatantly obvious but it apparently escaped the author and editors of this book.

In summary, don't bother reading this book.  It is offensive and the research is limited to such a tiny class of people that there is very little to glean about the actual sexual culture of today's youth.