Hook-up culture is “dead wrong,” Suzanne Venker said during an interview with Breitbart News before an appearance at Turning Point USA Young Women’s Leadership Summit.
Venker, women’s life and relationship coach and host of the Suzanne Venker Show, spoke about the current culture and was asked to identify one of the most popular pieces of advice women have been given in today’s culture that is “dead wrong.”
“Hook-up culture,” she quickly responded, combating the idea that women should put off marriage “as long as possible” and simply “hook up” with no actual connection.
“So just the idea that women should postpone marriage as long as possible, and then in the meantime, you have to have some sort of messaging about what are we going to do about sex and relationships, and the only thing that they hear is that dating is dead,” she said.
“And it really has been replaced with this concept of hooking up, which is really just hanging out and getting physical with someone with whom you have no connection, as though that is a good path, a natural path, and really the only path while you’re waiting to supposedly start your life and settle down later in life,” she said, describing that as “really destructive for women.”
It is destructive for men too, she clarified, but Venker said it is particularly bad for women “since they’re the ones who have a time frame in which to map out their lives and need to really start thinking about marriage and children sooner than the average guy, because they’re the ones who get pregnant and give birth and they’re the ones whose lives change the most.”
Venker said that ultimately, a woman’s relationships are what truly fulfill and empower her.
“The stronger they [relationships] are, the more powerful you will feel. The weaker they are, the less powerful you will feel. Because it doesn’t really come from money and status. That’s not where women — most women; there’s exceptions — but where most women get their true meaning and fulfillment. And I would say the same for men,” Venker said.
“It’s just that men have that provider gene in them that women don’t that causes them to have a greater drive to take care of their family. That’s part of their overall mission. That isn’t really in most women,” she added.
WATCH the full interview below: Suzanne Venker Talks Marriage, Children, Career: Can Women Truly Have It All?