Health and Safety Trepidations of the Emerging Culture of Transactional Hookup in Nigeria

Abstract

Transactional hookups are among the emerging public health threats worldwide. Its prevalence, particularly in developing nations such as Nigeria, has become a source of concern due to its attendant health and safety implications for the nation's population, predominantly among the young generation. However, the quest for material and non-material rewards linked with the hookup culture fuelled by risk factors such as poverty, peer influence and social media, including personal factors, often reinforces and beclouds participants' judgment of the significant long-term health and safety risks. The aftermath of such behaviour culminates in STIs, emotional and social risk, psychological regrets, and femicide linked with transactional hookup relationships. While it may be entirely impossible to eliminate transactional hookup culture, this paper stressed the need for interventional strategies focused on all-inclusive sexuality education, peer-led enlightenment campaigns, economic empowerment of youths through soft loans and entrepreneurial training, particularly for young women, including leveraging legal and institutional frameworks geared towards taming sexual exploitation and ritual femicide.

Keywords: Health and Safety Trepidations, Emerging Culture, Hookups, Transactional hookups.