Through sheepish smirks, we mumble one-word answers about our lives at college to our parents. Are you eating healthy? Yes. Are you getting good grades? Yes. Are you dating anyone? Maybe we don't answer, lie or change the subject, but we usually try to stray from the truth: college is slutty.

There's a reason why we're willing to tell our parents if we have a significant other, but not about our hook up last weekend. It's not what they did.

“In the past, people used to marry for all kinds of reasons: money, power, stability. Love and marriage weren't necessarily connected,” said Lynda Martens, a local marriage and family therapist.

“Because we don't need marriage in order to have [those things], we place less importance on it.”

This is something new to our generation. We believe that we can do anything on our own. We really can have all of the things our parents' generation deemed important without having a partner — big house, fancy car, vacations and sex.

Paired with our confident attitude, some biological factors come into play when considering the prominence of what's been coined hook-up culture. That is, a group of people that accepts casual sex focusing on physical pleasure without the commitment of a long-term or monogamous relationship.

“Puberty used to happen later, so we didn't have this big window between when people were sexually mature and when they married. Now we do. People are young and physically mature, and not marrying until they're in their 30's. There's this huge group who are looking for a partner, exploring sexuality, and wanting to learn about themselves,” Martens said.

“As women become more independent and have more rights, we understand that we are powerful and really want to find that partner that can satisfy every need we think we deserve. It's taking us a lot longer to figure out what that is. We need to explore our options,” said Allison Forbes, a recent Western University graduate and self-admitted active participant in hook-up culture.

With the help of various technological initiatives, exploring our options is easy. Websites like Plenty of Fish, OKCupid and mobile apps like Tinder are making finding a partner more accessible.

“It's also just more socially acceptable. It used to be frowned upon. There was a huge social stigma [attached to it], but it's the norm now,” Martens said.

But not only is it the norm, it's expected of you if you want the quintessential college experience.

“There is a stigma against guys who don't hook up. I feel like it's expected of me to try and prove myself based on the amount of ‘kills' I have,” said Joseph Timmins, a Fanshawe student.

“There's so much sexual information around us that we are constantly viewing sex, seeing sex, talking about sex. You don't have the social pressure of feeling like you did something wrong,” Forbes added. “So number one, it's so easy to get, and number two, no one's going to judge you. They're proud of you, even for females now.”

As with any relationship structure, rules and courtesies begin to form.

“[The rules] depend on what kind of hook up it is,” Forbes said.

“If it's with someone who you knew prior to the hook up, there might be some expectation of further communication. Whereas if you go to the bar and bring someone home, there's probably no expectation except for them to leave your apartment.”

“I know what I'm going in there for and that's usually the case for the other person, too. So as long as we go through an unspoken agreement that we're just in it for a hook up, I'm always cool with leaving it at just that,” said Timmins of the encounters.

Though according to the American Psychological Association, between 60 to 80 per cent of college students engage in casual sex, it seems to be the consensus that they do strive for a long-term relationship eventually.

“Ultimately, we all desire to feel loved and connected to people. Hooking up doesn't give us that. It gives the illusion of that. It meets the need of exposing us to a wide variety of people, but ultimately what we want is intimacy and connection,” Martens said.

“Dating usually does start with hooking up,” Forbes said. “It's with someone you hook up with regularly, and then you create barriers and rules and a relationship forms.”

She has had a serious relationship before and wants to have another someday. “My end goal is to be with someone. I want to share my life with someone completely, long-term.”

“Long-term relationships are satisfying in a totally different way than hook ups. Being able to come home from work and to catch up on your partner's day, having someone you look forward to seeing, and somebody that you can always count on to support you, is huge. I think it's a really important part of anyone's life,” Timmins agreed.

There is no doubt that millennials embrace the idea of self-exploration. We're encouraged to be independent and gather as many experiences as we can before we settle down to, in the words of our parents, start our lives. So whether it's exploring new countries, food or our sexuality, we've decided to squeeze every last bit out of our youth.

“I don't think it's a problem, I think it's a learning experience,” Forbes concluded.