Sex and college. A seemingly inevitable combination that is
present simultaneously between the sheets, behind closed doors and
out and about.
This week, UCLA and many other college campuses are decked out
in rainbows in honor of National Coming Out Week.
Stephanie Shipman is a fourth-year journalism student at Baylor
University in Waco, Texas, the largest Baptist university in the
country. She had never heard of the acronym LGBT.
“There would never be an actual (lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender) organization approved by student activities.
Never,” Shipman said. “Unless one day we decided not to
be a Baptist school anymore.”
Visiting hours between the separate-sex Baylor dorms are limited
to certain hours in the early evening.
In the residence halls of UCLA, students can walk down the
hallway and obtain a condom ““ free of charge and questions
““ from their resident assistants or student health
advocates.
“It’s normal for the average college student to
think about sex,” said Annie Hong, a third-year psychology
student. “I can’t imagine college in a way other than
the UCLA campus; I would rather have it like this.”
Students can ask questions about sex confidentially through a
variety of resources provided by the Arthur Ashe Health and
Wellness Center and the Center for Women & Men, including
workshops such as “Is it love or lust?”
“We don’t have a preconceived idea about how
students should feel about sexuality, but we want to empower them
to make good decisions,” said Pam Viele, the director of the
student health education branch in the Arthur Ashe Center.
Viele feels that UCLA encourages an environment in which
information about sex and sexuality is readily available and
provides many forums for students to voice their opinions.
Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr., on the other
hand, admonished the school paper for publishing an editorial
supporting equal rights for same-sex marriages in March 2004.
“Most students are OK because a lot of kids here are
Baptist, and they don’t expect anything different,”
Shipman said of the school’s conservative environment.
“I’m used to it because I’ve been here for so
long, and I’ve lived my whole life in Texas.”
In sharp contrast to Baylor’s student newspaper, The
Lariat, the Daily Californian at UC Berkeley features a popular
weekly sex column: Sex on Tuesday.
“When I first read the column my freshman year, I was a
little surprised that it was in the paper,” said Sari
Eitches, the current Sex on Tuesday columnist, about a tradition
that has lasted 16 semesters.
Writing her columns on orgasms and anal sex have made her more
frank about sexual issues, Eitches said. The Berkeley campus also
seems to embrace the column’s role, as many fellow students
approach Eitches with questions and topic suggestions.
“People get confused between frank discourse on sexuality
and overly promiscuous sex,” Eitches said. “I think the
more open and honest about sex, the less likely it is to be
dangerous and unwanted.”
Although free condoms and answers to questions about birth
control are not hard to find at UCLA, there are still limitations
to sexual acceptance.
“Diversity is more muted at UCLA,” said Amy
Sueyoshi, an assistant professor of ethnic studies and human sexual
studies at San Francisco State University. “In my classes,
the students are very vocal about being a professional dominatrix
or frequenting sex clubs.”
Sueyoshi was a teaching assistant for LGBT studies courses at
UCLA before graduating with a doctorate in history in 2002.
The differences she has seen in the two academic environments
can be attributed partly to the backgrounds of the students ““
a background that consists largely of the working class and
minorities at SFSU. A greater percentage of SFSU students are also
non-traditional, having returned to school after working for a few
years.
“These folks work and have seen the world; they are
exposed to different things in a way that a valedictorian attending
UCLA would not be exposed to,” she said.
Forty-five percent of UCLA undergraduates have never had sex,
while 49.5 percent haven’t had intercourse in the past year.
These percentages, Viele said, are frequently overestimated.
“A lot of my friends are sexually active,” said
Chris Jensen, a third-year Chinese student.
“The atmosphere of sexuality at UCLA will probably lead to
a lot of the alumni from here to have unsuccessful marriages
because the environment leads them to a wrong idea of what sex is
in a monogamous relationship,” he added.
But an environment that is open about sex and sexuality is
continually encouraged at UCLA under the premise that information
will allow students to make the best choices.
“When an open environment does not exist, it communicates
that there’s something taboo about sexuality,” said
Viele. “That creates emotional distress and makes it harder
for students to feel good about that part of who they
are.”