A majority of women at TCU complain about the female-to-male ratio on campus, which according to collegeboard.org, is about 60 percent women and 40 percent men. Though hookups are more common in college rather than a serious relationship, the hookup culture seems even more prevalent at TCU due to the imbalance of gender ratios. According to the book Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game by Jon Birger, the dating culture shifts when an oversupply of women on a college campus causes an undersupply of men to become the dominant players in the playing field. Based on the ratio of female-to-male, a campus’s relationship culture will be affected by whether there are more men or women.

A greater number of undergraduate women are increasing, especially since 1970, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which expects the female-to-male ratio to reach three women for every two men by 2023. According to the Forbes article, The Male-Female Ratio in College, by Daniel Borzelleca, said private universities on a national scale had a male-to-female ratio of 40.7 percent to 59.3 percent based on the Digest of Education Statistics in 2010. This unequal gender ratio is higher compared to the gender ratio of public universities, which is 43.6 percent for men and 56.4 percent for women. TCU is a private institution and follows under the statistic of private universities that have a higher female ratio than male ratio. According to niche.com, the facts and statistics of Guys and Girls, which received an A+ rating, said “whether it’s a relationship or a hookup, it’s not hard to find what you want once you figure out where to look.” Where are women on this campus supposed to look for a relationship or a hookup? It seems the most common place to meet men on campus is at Greek parties or local bars. Are these places necessarily the best locations to meet suitable men for relationship status? Based on 63 responses to “What kinds of relationships have you had since coming to school?” on niche.com, 21 percent of current or former students said causal dating, while 21 percent of current or former students said random hookups with someone. These were the highest percentages compared to 9 percent of current or former students who said they were exclusively dating someone.

This major imbalance follows under two theses, according to the study, Bare Market: Campus Sex Ratios, Romantic Relationships, and Sexual Behavior, by Jeremy E. Uecker and Mark D. Regnerus. The first thesis is the dyadic power thesis, which occurs when a gender is scarce in a population gains dyadic power within their heterosexual relationships. According to this study, this dyadic power gives men in scarce numbers to translate into “lower levels of relationship commitment and less favorable treatment of women on the part of men and a more sexually permissive climate.” Dyadic power is derived from the social exchange theory, which is an exchange to maximize benefits and minimize costs based on social relationships. The social exchange theory causes people to weigh the potential benefits and costs of a relationship. When the costs outweigh the benefits, people will end the relationship.

Here’s a typical scenario. A woman is casually hooking up with a man, and then the woman begins to become attached. The woman starts to want more from the strictly causal relationship, presumably a serious relationship. The man had dyadic power when he was maximizing his benefits out of sexual pleasure without weighing the costs, which may be emotional attachment by the woman. Now that the woman expects more, the man will most likely break out the causal arrangement, since the costs are outweighing the benefits. Where there is a shortage of women, men are expected to treat women well and commit more to a relationship, and if there is a surplus of women, men are expected to less likely treat women well and less likely to commit to a relationship based on what men want out of casual relationships – access to sex. California Institute of Technology, which according to the Cal Tech website, is about 67 percent male and 33 percent female. According to the Time article, Unequal Gender Ratios at Colleges Are Driving Hookup Culture, by Jon Birger, said “when men are in oversupply, the dating culture emphasizes courtship and monogamy.” Based on the Guys and Girls culture at niche.com, the description said, “Students tend not to date but have relationships. Casual dating is almost nonexistent. Of those who date breakups are rare, and many couples get married after Cal Tech.” The social relationship dynamic is very different when men are in surplus and women are scarce.

The second thesis is the demographic opportunity thesis, which causes an imbalanced gender ratio to hinder the formation of relationships by reducing the number of potential partners in the market. More women in the market will have less potential partners, whereas less women in the market will have more potential partners. Both of these theses combined cause women “to go on fewer traditional dates, are less likely to have had a college boyfriend, and are more likely to be sexually active.”

These theses explain why the atmosphere of gender disparities on this campus affect the hookup culture. As a woman who chooses to not engage in the hookup culture, my advice to women on this campus is to reevaluate what you want out of a relationship. Be the one reaping the benefits, instead of the giving all the benefits to a men and not getting any rewards in return. It’s all about structural power and in order to possess power, you have to establish the conditions of a relationship to ensure a men will treat you right. Don’t be the powerless one by allowing men to limit your freedom in creating gender roles of this hookup culture. Instead, expand your freedom by shifting the hookup culture and disbanding gender norms to show your own structural independency.