Emily is a reporter in the Fall 2024 Sojourners Journalism Cohort. Learn more about the program.
Emily Baez is a native of Tampa, Fla., but currently lives in Wisconsin. Her love of geographic change has led her to live in five different U.S. states since graduating from the University of South Florida.
When she’s not writing or thinking about theology, Emily loves eating good food with close friends and family, snapping photos of her tiny Maltese, being in nature, writing short stories, and reading everything from Russian literature to niche memoirs. Someday, she would like to call herself an avid tennis player.
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My Generation is Tired of Situationships. Christian Sex Ethics Can Help
Credit: Unsplash/Jayson Hinrichsen
When my friend introduced me to pop artist Chappell Roan this past April, I had no idea who she was. Now, nearly six months later, I hear about Chappell Roan (the stage name for Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) daily. From drawing massive crowds at Lollapalooza to having one of the most streamed albums of the summer, Roan’s quick rise to fame has been impressive.
My friend described Roan as the “situationship singer.” A “situationship” a term coined by Generation Z, is a noncommittal or undefined romantic or sexual relationship. “Casual,” the fifth track on Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, grieves a situationship. In it, Roan describes a relationship that fails to evolve into something beyond a pattern of casual, sexual encounters. There’s a confession in Roan’s bridge that’s so honest and unexpected, that it took me by surprise upon first listen. She says, “I try to be the chill girl that / Holds her tongue and gives you space / I try to be the chill girl but / Honestly, I’m not.”
For those who grew up in the conservative Christian world as Roan did, lamenting casual sex is familiar territory. But Roan and other Gen Zers aren’t lamenting casual sex, hookup culture, or situationships because they believe their “sexual purity” is tied to their salvation. Rather, they seem to be lamenting a sex-positive culture that doesn’t live up to the hype.