That the rise of a 'hookup culture' is regrettable

"Hookup" - A casual sexual encounter, a one-night stand. The emphasis of the term is on the casual nature of the encounter. Typically the "hookup" is simply two consenting people seeking pleasure rather than a relationship or any kind of commitment. It's accepted that these people may be strangers or may have only known each other for a short time - less than a couple of weeks. As with any attempt to put people in a box, there will be exceptions to this, but I believe I'm accurate in saying that this is the spirit of the term.

It would useful in this section to describe the alternative, which would be that these sexual encounters would only take place within the bounds of a courtship or traditional relationship. This removes the casual nature of the encounter as the participants have already committed to each other. Because "Courtship" is a bit old-timey, I'd like to respectfully submit "Traditional Relationship" as a definition in this debate.  

"Culture" - Lifestyle. The term in this context is asserting that there is a significant enough number of people advocating the "Hookup" as an acceptable alternative to the more traditional "Courtship" as to term it a "Culture". 

"Traditional Relationship" - For the sole purposes of this debate, I'd like to submit this term be used to describe the opposite convention to the "Hookup". In this context, "Traditional Relationship" can represent any sexual relationship between two individuals who have made a monogamous commitment to each other - this could be in or out of Marriage, but assumes a sincere degree of commitment for the foreseeable future. I realise that this term doesn't include every degree of possible relationship and will no doubt offend someone but I need a term to use and this is the best one I can come up with. Sorry. 

All other words carry their standard dictionary definitions.

--------------------------------

In this debate I will be arguing the case that the rise of a "hookup culture" is regrettable. My position will not be to argue the degree to which such a culture exists today - there is a solid school of thought that contests this contention; rather, my goal will be to highlight the aspects of the Hookup which are negative and to show by logical extension that the rise of a culture that prefers this convention to the Traditional Relationship would be regrettable.

More Sexual Partners equals more chance of catching an STD
Sexually Transmitted diseases, (STDs) are spread through sexual contact between people. The Hookup culture promotes more sexual contact between people which means, mathematically, an increase in the chances of participants catching an STD. 
It's more than simply increased sexual contact though - the Hookup by definition is an encounter between two virtual strangers. There is no significant time spent getting to know each other, it's just boom - let's get it on. The casual and often spontaneous nature of these hookups leads to a dramatic increase in the number of sexual partners a person is likely to have, a scenario which is also proven to help the spread of disease.

If we were to look at the other theoretical extreme where each person only ever had one sexual partner in a lifetime, it's obvious that STDs would spread far less. The average reality is going to be somewhere between the two, but what IS certain is that less sexual partners equals less chance of catching crabs.

Whilst contraception has come a long way since the 60's, the very nature of the Hookup means that unplanned/unwanted pregnancies are more likely to occur. Since the Hookup is usually most common in the younger members of a generation, they may not even have legal access to contraception and therefore we see an increase in underage pregnancies.
While it's true that pregnancies can occur in any sexual encounter, the casual and often spontaneous nature of the Hookup makes it more likely that it will occur.
The pregnancies that DO occur in these types of encounters are also more likely to be unwanted or unplanned. 

The moral issue of the Hookup culture is that society functions best when people regard others as more important than themselves. This happens in a relationship where two people actually care about each other, but it doesn't happen in a Hookup where two people are concerned only with their own pleasure. 

As society promotes a culture where personal pleasure is the most important thing, we are only a short step away from anarchy.
It is not too much of a stretch to tie the rise of Hookup culture with the rise of sexual crimes - rape and abuse. 

I look forward to continuing this debate. Vote PRO - we will hook you up.