Boards
Hooking up at camp is as common as canoeing. | Source
Hooking up at camp is almost a rite of passage, and it’s easy to see why it happens: You’re away from home, you’re bonding with new people, and it’s usually summertime–when people want sex the most and cover up the least. Between the canoeing and hiking, for a lot of people, hooking up at camp is common, even if it’s against the rules. And a lot of camp counselors aren’t really trying to stop it.
In fact, some camp counselors actually encourage hooking up, even if they don’t say so directly. To be clear, it’s not like they’re throwing condoms at you and pushing campers together! But they don’t do anything to stop campers from hooking up. Jewish sleepaway camps in particular have been turning a blind eye to teens hooking up in the cabins, in part because most camp counselors were once regular campers, too (so they know how it is) and in part because a lot of religious camps like their campers to develop relationships within their own religion that will become the norm for them later–though a lot of more conservative camps will do everything they can to discourage anything sexual from going down. A lot of camp counselors give a lot of leeway for hooking up at camp, whether it’s not reporting people sneaking into one another’s cabins or deliberately giving extra alone time to couples.
And we kind of think that’s a pretty good idea.
Chances are whether hooking up at camp is allowed or not, it’s still going to happen. Whether or not there are religious or moral motivations behind a particular summer camp, putting a stigma on campers hooking up isn’t going to stop them from doing it–and if anything, it’s going to give people the bad sort of sexual hangups that haunt them as adults. We say as long as you’re being safe and responsible, there’s no real reason why hooking up at camp should be such a taboo–especially when it’s so ridiculously common anyway (even in pre-American Pie days!).
Think about it: Chances are, people you go to school with are hooking up with one another, right? Summer camp is sort of like school in that way: You have a bunch of potentially horny people with raging hormones in close quarters for a long time bonding over a common experience, minus parental supervision overnight. Things are pretty much bound to happen, so we might as well let them. Just be careful not to get caught up in pressure from other campers, and try not to get in trouble with your counselors–and if you’re going below the belt for anything, use condoms!
Have you ever been caught hooking up at camp? Do you think counselors encourage hooking up at summer camp? Would you ever hook up with a guy at camp? Tell us in the comments!
What You’ll Tell Everyone You Did This Summer (LOL!)
Would You Rather?
This or That
Ya she was a nice Burnett and she lost her v card
The thing about Jewish camp is so true (at least in my experience…a few of my friends lost their virginity at Jewish camp).
What one of my counselors said is “You’re teenagers. You’re going to hook up. I’m not trying to keep that from happening because I know that won’t work. I just don’t want it to be too easy. And no babies please.”
The counselors knew all the couples (pretty much. I think there were a few that were one-time things that the counselors didn’t know about, and one girl kept a hookup secret from everyone for most of the month), and they really tried to enforce the no mixing genders in cabins rule (which obviously didn’t work. I was only caught once…apparently “he’s gay” doesn’t work as an excuse… even if it’s true…). I don’t think anybody was really punished for it though…
It’s not that uncommon… one of my really good friends (who was a counselor) gave another counselor a blowjob in his tent, and the camp I go to is pretty strict with that kinda stuff so she wasn’t allowed to come back. I personally think that the risk factor alone of getting caught would get your heart racing, and not just that, but (and call me a slut if you want) I would love to just have the bragging rights from doing that.
Mabey the counslers should have to stop it. at a church camp near my town i few years ago their was rumors that camp counclers were raping people….
This is ridiculous to single out Jewish camps, especially for something that does not happen. I have been to ‘jewish sleepaway’ camps as is put in this article, and this does not happen. Yes, people hook up in the sense of kissing but sex does not occur. It is against the religious belief of the camp and of the campers. I am now in Yr 10 and am close with all grades up to Yr 12 and it does not occur. As far as I am aware, the camps of other movements do not have these situations either. Yes it may occur, but do not imply that it definitely does or that it is just Jewish camps. Gurl should not be singling out religions, especially in this sort of way.
that’s ridiculous, I can see them letting kids kiss but anything more is just irresponsible. I just turned 17 and my friend who is 13 was hooking up with guys at camp with no protection, and I really wish they had been better monitored because stupid kids like her need to be watched. When I went to camp my friends and I snuck off during a field game with some boys to go for a walk and take pictures. A counselor caught us but since we where just playing around and posing for pictures to put on Facebook, she let it slide. But if a counselor suspected some kids going off to have sex they should at least go check on the situation, because while kids are at camp their parents are trusting the employees to make sure they don`t do anything stupid while they are staying there.
A new low has been reached on gurl.com.
Seriously? Authority figures WANT teenagers to hook up now? This article was obviously written to grab attention, or justify something that went wrong at camp..
so me and my bf were at camp(church camp) and the coin let’s where mad at us because we snuck out of game time and where sitting on the swings swinging! and we were also walking to the beach front and we were holding hands and the bouncer asked if we where married and to please dislodge our hands… so just piss Jen of I got very close to the guys cabin and I got sent home! but then again I was also in a bikini, outside of my bfs cabin
As a former camper and current counselor at a religious summer camp, I’ve seen (and expierienced) hooking up at camp. I hooked up with a guy there two summers in a row, and I had campers hook up behind my back. If you tell them no, they’re gonna still do it. If they’re old enough to be hooking up, they’re old enough to know the consequences. As counselors, we are told to keep an eye on couples, but we’ve even had exsiting couples come to camp together. If we catch the campers, we have to have a sit down and talk to them about it (because techically they’re not supposed to do that, but whatever) I’ve told my campers that other campers like them. Its summer camp and it’s supposed to be fun.
I go to church camp and thats the only time i see my boyfriend so they understand but we dont like have sex sometimes we just go by the lake at night and stargaze and make out and im really glad they dont bug me about it
I’m also a camp counselor at a catholic youth camp. This is crazy. Yes, hooking up at camp happens. But in no means would a staff member ever support something like that. It’s our JOB to make sure that doesn’t happen. Our kids are there to form friendships, not relationships. Yes, the staff hook up, and yes campers hook up with other campers OUTSIDE of camp. The fact that it’s thought that us staff would support something like that while the kids are still campers in our camp is idiotic. It’d be irresponsible on our part. No way. Not okay.
This is RIDICULOUS and not true. Enough said.
As a camp counselor at a religious camp, I think this is crazy. As counselors, we monitor our kids and durring our breaks talk about problem couples. If kids get pregnant at our camp, it becomes a huge legal issue, and then people wont send their kids there. Yes, I myself was a camper at the same camp i now counsel at, and I dont have some skewed view of sexuality! Parents have entrusted us to teach their children christian moral values. That means that if i hear a 12 year old talking about wanting to have a gay friend “because they talk funny” (some of my best friends are gay, and that just seemed insensitive and steryotypicall) or see two fourteen year olds sneaking off in the woods (both of these things, and more, have happened) I have a legal and moral responsibility to keep these kids walking the straight and narrow, at least while their at camp. No ones perfect, but this view on summer camp hookups is positively american pie. In a world of litigations and idiots, do you really believe someone would stake their jobs and reputation on letting a couple kids hook up?
boys and girls weren’t aloud to stay in eachother’s rooms when i went to camp. but we had ZERO supervision and we were in a hotel! the camp counselors didn’t have our room keys or anything. it was a music camp… i wonder what people were doing when they said they were practicing alone in their rooms….
what religious group encourages using protection? my grandfather talked about how his church would do that with the youth so when someone got knocked up they would be a good religious family and get married within the church. not good idea, not at all.