Students across the country are turning away from the physical and emotional dangers of casual sex on campus, otherwise known as the “hook up culture”, and are forming groups to offer an alternative to those who want to return to good old-fashioned romance, dating and commitment.

The Breeze is the newspaper of record for students at James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia, a school rated as #1 among American colleges for students looking for hookups, but not all students are onboard. In fact, an increasing number of them are tired of the pressure to become involved in casual sex and have started their own group, known as Off the Hook.

Jacqueline Herrick, president of the club, told Breeze reporter Nicolette Chuse that she stumbled upon the idea while attending a conference last October sponsored by a group committed to sexual integrity at Princeton University known as the Love & Fidelity Network. It was during this conference that she came across an Off the Hook club from the University of Pittsburgh and thought it was the perfect way to introduce beliefs about abstinence and commitment to JMU.

"There is overwhelming pressure for students to regard sex and relationships casually, and there is little understanding or support for students who do not wish to participate in the campus hook-up culture," writes Melody Sarno, the group’s vice president, on the group's website.

"Furthermore, many students make decisions about their current sexual behavior without considering its potential effects on their future marriages, families, and personal health. Our mission is to help enrich campus discussion on these matters by providing a much needed alternative voice in support of chastity and the sexual norms surrounding it."

Most members espouse traditional beliefs about abstinence and dating and are seeking to let other students known that chastity and relationships are respectable choices.

“We’ve talked about how people, especially in college, think that hookups are OK, and it’s accepted and should be preferred over dating and I totally disagree with that,” said group member Madison Kambic. “I think that dating is something to be very proud of and something good to be invested in.”

Freshman Aaron DeSeve said he believes that the hookup culture is affecting more than just college campuses.

"I think that the hookup culture is a much bigger catastrophe for the United States … than people make it out to be and I actually value relationships,” DeSeve told Chuss.

The group promotes its ideals through research and discussions held at the monthly meetings. Each meeting has a theme relating to some aspect of sexuality or love.

For instance, on October 28, the topic was about pornography and its effects on loving relationships, and featured a video by British comedian Russell Brand. The discussions that followed were invaluable.

“I really value the discussions that we have in our meetings,” Sarno said. “I think we all very quickly became close in sharing our different views and understandings of what we talk about and so I actually think that that’s the thing that we take away most from the meetings. That’s why people keep coming back.”

The group is now up to 112 members.

“We’ve had an overwhelmingly large, warm response to the start of our club,” she said and is pleased to get positive feedback from students who say the club is helping them deal with the pressure to engage in the hookup culture.

“It’s just really affirming the reasons that we started this club in the first place. As we grow more in our understanding, we can then share those things with other people and then they learn from us and then it spreads.”

Her goal is to reach as many people as possible through the club and to do so in a loving and thoughtful way.

"We aim to foster discussion that is civil and sincere," she writes, "and that contributes to the intellectual and personal development of our peers."

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