March 3rd 2010

Oxytocin: The Pseudoscience of the Hook-Up Hormone

As a now-monogamous former sex blogger, I'm living proof that hooking up doesn't make you crazy or unable to commit. But if mainstream media reports of the past few years are to be believed, I'm the exception, not the rule. Recently, however, researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted one of the first large-scale studies on the effects of hooking up and found the following:

"Although there has been speculation in public discourse that sexual encounters outside a committed romantic relationship may be emotionally damaging for young people, this study found no differences in the psychological well-being of young adults who had a casual sexual partner verses a more committed partner."

Papers across the nation better get ready to fire up their presses. They're going to be printing retractions into 2011. In the past decade, anti-sex attitudes have dominated the public discourse, probably in large part influenced by George W. Bush's election to office, which ushered in an era of abstinence-only education. Marla Eisenberg, the lead researcher on the University of Minnesota study, notes that premarital sex is "nothing new". Rather, it is the public discourse and perception that has changed. She says, "With the onset of federally funded abstinence-only education in the '90s, we began teaching kids that sex outside of marriage would be psychologically harmful (which was based on ideology rather than research)."

Media coverage of the supposed "hook-up culture" often echoes misconceptions first promoted by abstinence advocate Dr. Eric Keroack, the Bush-appointed former deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Population Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. During his tenure, Keroack made the case for abstinence-only sex education by claiming that premarital sex damages one's ability to form attachments down the line. The layman's version: oxytocin, the so-called "bonding hormone" which is produced during intercourse, will be less effective at bonding us to our future mates if we overindulge in the chemical cocktail by bed-hopping through our youth. Keroack based these conclusions on oxytocin studies conducted on prairie voles, a type of rodent notable for its tendency to mate for life, which is attributed to high oxytocin production.

The oxytocin studies are peer-reviewed and scientifically rigorous, but Keroack's interpretation? Not so much. One lead researcher on the oxytocin study called Keroack's conclusions "complete pseudoscience" and another characterized them as "a wild leap". Those involved in the research have said in no uncertain terms that the results cannot be extrapolated to apply to a human population, whose relationships are complicated by pesky matters like mortgages and religious beliefs. In other words, couples don't just get together and stay together because of the hormonal high. Here's an even bigger blow to Keroack's pet theory: Prairie voles may mate for life, but they also have sexual dalliances outside of their primary partnership, oxytocin be damned. Unfortunately for the scientists actually doing work with oxytocin, they've gotten far less press time than the guy misrepresenting their research.

There were others, unrelated and without knowledge of Keroack's theories, who had a significant influence on the national dialogue about hooking up. Take, for example, a piece by Marie Claire entitled "Does Hooking Up Hurt You?", which interviews journalist Laura Sessions Stepp, author of Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Love, Delay Sex, and Lose At Both. In the interview Stepp argues that women are biologically wired to get attached to sexual partners, that hooking up can lead to depression, and that casual sex may damage one’s ability to have long-term relationships. The basis for her argument? Oxytocin.

The publication of Unhooked gained Stepp the attention of The New York Times, NPR, PBS, and other national media outlets. Keroack, on the other hand, has long resigned his post amidst allegations of improper conduct in his private practice. In the meantime, the oxytocin myth has been endlessly perpetuated, in part because those actually qualified to speak on the topic are often the last ones consulted. This recent research isn't the first to poke holes into Keroack's theory, and I doubt it will be the last. The aforementioned Marie Claire piece was just one of many articles that raised moral panic over the supposed "hook-up culture," perpetuating long-held assumptions about the dangers of premarital sex. Mainstream depictions of youth sexuality won't be changing anytime soon, unless reporters start fact-checking scientific claims and going to real experts for the facts.

I, for one, won't be holding my breath.

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Lena Chen is a senior at Harvard University and the author of the popular sex and relationship blog Sex and the Ivy. She writes about sex, feminism, and health and has been featured in The New York Times and Newsweek. She currently blogs at The Chicktionary.

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**Editor's Note: Laura Sessions Stepp, SexReally podcast host and weekly contributor, asked that we include the following statement with this post:

When it comes to opinions about Unhooked, all are welcome as long as they are accurate. Lena Chen is wrong to suggest that Eric Kerouack influenced my work in any way. I have observed young women and young men for more than a decade, interviewed many scientists and read their work. I have never heard of Keroack nor read anything he wrote. I arrived at my conclusions independently, and my explanation for hooking up, as well as my concerns about it as a repetitive pattern of behavior, go way beyond one hormone.