Casual sex is sexual activity that takes place outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter between individuals, where at least one of the parties has no immediate intention or expectation of establishing a longer-term sexual or romantic relationship. Anonymous sex is a form of one-night stand or casual sex between people who have very little or no history with each other, often engaging in sexual activity on the same day of their meeting and usually never seeing each other again afterwards.
The terms friends with benefits and booty call [ 4 ] describe situations in which a person has sex with someone they generally consider a friend or someone they are fairly close to. They are not in an exclusive romantic relationship. A study, published in The Journal of Sex Research , found that two out of five single women and one out of five single men in "friends with benefits" relationships hoped that their relationship would eventually turn into a full-fledged romance.
Recreational sex can take place in an open marriage , [ 8 ] among swingers where sex is viewed as a social occasion , [ 9 ] [ 10 ] or in an open relationship. A "hookup" colloquial American English is a casual sexual encounter involving physical pleasure without necessarily including emotional bonding or long-term commitment.
It can range from kissing for example, making out to other sexual activities. The practice of hooking up became a widespread among young people in the s and s. Researchers say that what differentiates hooking up from casual sex in previous generations of young people is the "virtual disappearance" of dating, which had been dominant from the postwar period onwards.
In more modern times, rather than dating, casual sex is the primary path for young people into a relationship. With students, studies have shown that the group most likely to engage in casual sex is white middle- or upper-class heterosexuals. Black and Latino students are less likely to hook up, as are evangelical Christian students and working-class students.
