Filmmaker Denice Ann Evans draws heavily on the voices of students in this powerful and timely exploration of hookup culture on college campuses. Supplementing student testimony with analysis from experts and health professionals, the film's main concern is whether hookup culture is offering young people a new and potentially liberating set of sexual rules, or whether it's simply reinforcing traditional gender roles and blurring the line between consent and coercion. The result is an invaluable teaching tool, one that asks tough questions about the relationship between hookup culture, gender politics, and the alarming levels of sexual assault and binge drinking that continue to plague college campuses.
The DVD includes both a 64-minute feature of the film and a 35-minute abridged version, made specifically for use in the classroom.
Sections: Introduction | Binge Drinking | Drugs | Peer Pressure | Hooking Up | Drunken Sex | Friends with Benefits | Fraternities | Sexual Assault | Consent | Reality vs. Illusion
Duration: 64 min (full version) & 35 min (abridged version)
ISBN: 1-932869-77-8
Date Produced: 2009
Subtitles: English
7-Day Streaming Rental ($50):
"The campus hookup culture usually elicits bemusement or shock, but rarely is it well understood. This thoughtful film gets inside the hookup culture, reveals its gender politics, and enables us to finally start asking the right questions about the sort of sexual ethics we need to be developing."
- Michael Kimmel | Professor of Sociology, SUNY Stony Brook
"A powerful force that opens a window onto a reality that too few of us want to face."
- David Lisak, Ph.D. | Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston
"The interplay between student interviews and notable personalities in the sexual assault and gender-related fields is excellent. Provides in-depth coverage on subjects that touch nearly every college health education issue."
- Elaine D. Theodore, Ed.M. | Sexual Violence Resource Coordinator | Tufts University
"Spitting Game: The College Hook-Up Culture is a revealing and provocative look at the pleasures and pitfalls of hook-up culture. This timely documentary explores binge drinking, sex-saturated youth culture, pleasure, consent, and sexual assault through the voices of young people immersed in hook-up culture."
- Dr. Caroline Heldman | Associate Professor of Politics | Occidental College
"This provocative new film will generate much classroom discussion. Spitting Game suggests that alcohol abuse and sexual assault are endemic to college hookup scenes. Students -- particularly those who enjoy the sort of social life described -- may find the film challenging."
- Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong | Professor of Sociology | Michigan State University
"Spitting Game addresses the challenging issues of binge drinking and hookup culture head-on, highlighting how a generation's desire for sexual equality became synonymous with dangerous sexual decision-making."
- Michelle Issadore, M.Ed. | Executive Director for School and College Organization for Prevention Educators
"An eye-opening, student-driven documentary. Provides the space for important dialogues to emerge surrounding sexuality, sexual health, gender roles, peer pressure, and self-esteem."
- Janie Lacy, M.S. | Licensed Mental Health Counselor
"The interviews with college students contained within this video made this program very relatable for our students. Additionally, the statistics and factual information provided by professionals added an element of validity that created a strong foundation from which to engage in further discussions of sexual assault on the college campus with our students."
- Tara R. Schuster, M.S. | Health Educator | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
"After viewing her documentary Spitting Game: The College Hook-Up Culture with campus peer educators, I invited Denice Evans to speak as part of our school's 2012 Safe Spring Break programming. Her documentary was the catalyst for interesting conversation among the peer educators, conversation that I also wanted to see happen on the campus community level. The screening was well attended with every seat in the room filled and many attendees sitting on the floor."
- Jordan Perry, MPH, CHES | Coordinator for Health Promotion & Substance Education Advisor | Elon University
"Spitting Game is remarkably relevant to college campuses ...[T]his is not a problem isolated to big or small campuses, but something that occurs in almost every college across the country."
- Onward State
