Research paper The pleasures of drunken one-night stands: Assemblage theory and narrative environments Willy Pedersen a, *, Sébastien Tutenges b , Sveinung Sandberg b a Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway b Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo, Norway A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 6 April 2017 Received in revised form 2 August 2017 Accepted 3 August 2017 Keywords: Alcohol Night-time economy Assemblage theory Narratives Sexuality Casual sex A B S T R A C T Background: In this study, we use assemblage theory to investigate the link between alcohol use and one- night stands. Methods: The data come from qualitative interviews conducted with 104 young participants in the night- time economy. Results: We show that: (i) alcohol-fuelled sexual explorations (e.g. erotic fantasizing, flirting and sex) are of paramount importance for young partygoers; (ii) sexualized territories (e.g. private parties, rural feasts and the backseat of cars) significantly shape the experience and performance of one-night stands; and (iii) contrary to previous research, one-night stands are to a large degree associated with pleasure—the immediate pleasure of having sex and the long-term pleasure of telling about it to others. Conclusion: We argue that drunken one-night stands are part and parcel of a drinking culture that places high value on sexual encounters and personal sex stories. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Introduction Over the past couple of decades, casual sex within a so-called “hook-up culture” has been described as prevalent among young people (Freitas, 2013; McIlhaney & Bush, 2008). Casual sex refers to varied and complex practices, and is usually defined as any consensual sexual activity that occurs between two people (e.g., strangers, recent acquaintances or friends) outside of a committed or long-term relationship (Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000). A distinc- tion has been made between one-night stands—usually implying one-off sexual intercourse with a person—and hook-ups, including a broader variety of possible acts and longer-term casual sexual arrangements, such as “friends with benefits”, “fuck buddies” or regularly having sex with an ex-partner (Bisson & Levine, 2009; Campbell, 2008; Lewis, Atkins, Blayney, Dent, & Kaysen, 2013). Early terms included “permissiveness without affection” and “premarital sex”, whereas the current concept “non-romantic sex” captures sex that occurs outside the context of a hegemonic romantic narrative (Farvid & Braun, 2017). The main pull of casual sex is assumed to be the desire for uncommitted sexual activity (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012). However, recent research has linked casual sex to the concept of emerging adulthood, suggesting that casual sex may fill “relationship gaps”, or people being too busy for committed relationships because of work or studies, and a sense of being too young to be “tied down” (Garcia et al., 2012; Lyons, Manning, Giordano, & Longmore, 2013; Lyons, Manning, Longmore, & Giordano, 2014). Previous studies have overwhelmingly focused on the negative aspects of one-night stands, such as lack of sexual pleasure, feelings of regret, poor relationship quality and reputa- tional concerns (Campbell, 2008; Lyons et al., 2014; McCarthy & Grodsky, 2011). As outlined by Farrugia (2017: 283–284), notions of ‘regrettable’ sexual practices are often constituted through norma- tive expectations of femininity and masculinity. Women are called up to regret failing to enact a “respectable” femininity while men are expected to regret potential harms caused by accidents and physical violence. Moreover, while intoxication may de-responsibilise men, it doubly responsibilises women, as they are accused of breaking norms as well as putting themselves in a position to be assaulted by breaking gendered expectations of behaviour. A few recent studies have presented more complex findings, where casual sex has also been associated with psychological and affective pleasures, such as “ego boosts”, the opportunity to be “naughty”, and to experience “thrills”, i.e., novel and exciting transgressions (Farvid & Braun, 2017). Note that a sexual double standard is still very much present among young people in Norway, where this study has been conducted (Fjaer, Pedersen, & Sandberg, * Corresponding author at: Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Box 1096, 0317, Blindern, Oslo, Norway. E-mail address: willy.pedersen@sosgeo.uio.no (W. Pedersen). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.08.005 0955-3959/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. International Journal of Drug Policy 49 (2017) 160–167 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Drug Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locat e/drugpo