Get Herald RSSRenata Sago's '10 recent column ("A love to last past Saturday night," Oct. 30) was an impassioned attack on passion, i.e., random hookups. I was so inspired that I've decided to write an apology ... a defense for random hookups.
Sago's criticism of the practice centered around the meaninglessness of one-time physical encounters and the "shame and guilt" felt after "a night of libertine action." Now, I don't know what "libertine" means, but it sounds a lot like "liberty" to me, and I think we can all agree that liberty is a good thing. In fact, someone wrote a book on liberty, called "On Liberty." That someone was renowned philosopher John Stuart Mill, and if he were alive today I think he would write an angry editorial condemning Sago's article. Unfortunately, he died in the 19th century, so I'll have to do it for him.
If Mill were here now, he would undoubtedly point to his conception of individual rights as justification for the practice of random hookups. He writes that "the only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs..." So it is our freedom, our right to pursue our own good in our own way, even if that means making out sketchily on the dance floor. Mill notes that what guides people to their opinions on the regulations of human conduct "is the feeling in each person's mind that everybody should be require to act as he." Sago wants everyone to be like her, to "'meet people" before they sleep with them, and to "respect (themselves)." Well, I have enough self respect to feel that if I don't want to respect myself, I shouldn't have to. Sago should not impose her unrealistic moral expectations on others.
Now, Sago might reply that she isn't imposing her views, but rather imploring us to attempt to have meaningful relationships. Admittedly, her advice at the end of the article is presented as "requests." I see the foundation, however, being laid for a disturbing progression. First it's "requests" in the "opinion section" of The Herald, then it's formal petitions to campus administrators. Her column could be the first step in a campaign to eliminate hookups, partying and all possible manifestations of fun on campus. Brown University could become a police state. I read the first 50 pages of "1984," and trust me, we don't want that to happen.
All of these concerns aside, Sago's article is scientifically misinformed. Her warning about the threat of herpes is alarmist. Everyone knows you can't get STDs from random hookups, during a full moon or in a swimming pool. I try to use at least two of these forms of protection just to be safe, but one will do fine. Further, even if it were possible to get herpes at Buxton House or in a swimming pool, who is Sago to say what STDs I do or don't get? That sounds like paternalism to me, and last time I checked, Renata, you're not my father.
It has been shown that hookups are justified on the basis of individual liberty and that any attempt to discourage them is alarmist, paternalistic and could lead totalitarianism, but I want to take this argument one step further. Another renowned philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau, provides the basis for the view of random hookups as not only justified, but as superior to established relationships. In his "Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men," Rousseau lays out the pure, natural state of man, before the corruptive influences of society. In this state, "everyone bedded down at random and often for one night only; males and females united fortuitously, according to chance encounters, opportunity and desire, without speech being an especially necessary interpreter of what they had to tell one another." Sounds a lot like Buxton parties to me. This shows that random hookups are natural, and "relationships" are merely societal constructs, damaging to the essence of man.
So I say, let us return to our essence, let us be who God or nature intended us to be. Let us transcend, Brunonians, transcend the fetters of society and the chains of morality. I implore that we not fall victim to hesitation or suppress our innermost desires. Only when we hookup liberally will we find liberty.
Sam Loomis '10 is inviting everyone to his party on Saturday.
