Hooked - September Resource of the Month

Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children, Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr. and Freda McKissic Bush

With more than 900,000 unwanted pregnancies and 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occurring each year in the U.S., too few young people consider the emotional and psychological risks of casual sex. These bonds are formed, regardless of the precautionary measures taken.

This book by two doctors, Joe S. McIlhaney and Freda McKissic Bush, isn’t merely another stern warning about teenage sex, but rather a journey of discovery into the human brain when we are at our most vulnerable.

Society tells us that sex is an act of self-expression, a personal choice for physical pleasure that can be summed up in the ubiquitous phrase, “hooking up.” But what happens when those relationships end, when the physical pleasure is a memory and the person you shared it with is gone? Millions of American teenagers and young adults are finding that the psychological baggage of such behavior is having a real and lasting impact on their lives. They are discovering that “hooking up” is the easy part, but “unhooking” from the bonds of a sexual relationship can have serious consequences.

Available at the CPYU Resource Center