Casual sex is sexual activity that takes places outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter between individuals, where at least one of the parties has no immediate intention or expectation of establishing a longer-term sexual or romantic relationship. Anonymous sex is a form of one-night stand or casual sex between people who have very little or no history with each other, often engaging in sexual activity on the same day of their meeting and usually never seeing each other again afterwards. They are not in an exclusive romantic relationship. Recreational sex can take place in an open marriage , [8] among swingers where sex is viewed as a social occasion , [9] [10] or in an open relationship. A "hookup" colloquial American English is a casual sexual encounter involving physical pleasure without necessarily including emotional bonding or long-term commitment; it can range from kissing for example, making out to other sexual activities. Hooking up became a widespread practice among young people in the s and s.

This study focuses on the narratives of four young Swedish women who were interviewed about their experiences of heterosexual casual sex. Although Reay bemoans the lack of a historical perspective on the phenomenon of casual sex, and reminds us that the practice of uncommitted sex is not an invention of modernity, theoretical Bauman ; Giddens ; Sigusch as well as empirical Kalish and Kimmel ; Paul and Hayes ; Timmerman and Courtois scholars tend to describe it as a fairly new and growing practice. The plethora of empirical studies in this area over the last decade also suggests that an increasing number of researchers find casual sex to be an important topic of investigation cf. Boislard et al. In this study, we want to contribute to the field by analyzing the narratives of four young Swedish women who were interviewed on the basis of their experiences of heterosexual casual sex.