I suppose my biggest regret as UCLA’s sex columnist was
never coming up with a sassy name for my weekly musings ““
such as Cal’s “Sex on Tuesday,” Boston
College’s “Sex and the Univer-city” or (my
favorite) “Cornellingus” from you can guess where.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the letters U-C-L-A lend
themselves to a clever acronym ““ at least none I could think
of (Under the Covers and Lactating Acid?) and certainly none that
could even compare to Cornell’s stroke of genius.
So my column remained nameless, but it remained the “sex
column” nonetheless.
Independent of name (or lack thereof), college sex columns
across the country are criticized. Some say they promote
stereotypes of the sexually promiscuous college student.
Others are concerned that a sex column is not appropriate
material for a newspaper ““ be it a college publication or
otherwise. But most disappointingly, they’re criticized
because many college sex columns are written by (God forbid) young
women who arrive at college and decide to start an extracurricular
hobby as self-proclaimed “sexperts.” According to the
critics found in a USA Today article, this absolutely must lead to
false information and misguided advice.
Way to stereotype me.
I’m fortunately not one to be offended. I’m even one
to realize that sometimes there is a hint of truth in stereotypes.
After all, I was an awkward college sophomore when I started this
column. Not exactly a sexpert by any standards, nor am I one now.
But this shouldn’t matter.
I strongly believed when I began this job that a college
newspaper could only benefit from a good sex column. And now, over
a year later, I am even more convinced. If this column has done
anything, it has continually reminded me of the ridiculous
misconceptions people have about sex.
Or, if not misconceptions, the guilt complexes or
complaints.
These include more mechanical problems such as erectile
dysfunction, more elusive anxieties about what it means to be
questioning one’s sexuality and questions about rape and
sexual harassment.
Many of these issues can be best addressed in a newspaper column
because it’s anonymous. You don’t have to sit next to
anybody; nobody even has to know that you read it.
As to false information and misguided advice?
When the most likely way for you to get your high school
girlfriend to fool around with you is to get her to take a
virginity pledge (a Harvard study found that 52 percent gave up
their pledges within a year) and when high school students in
federally funded abstinence-only programs are taught that abortion
can lead to suicide and sterility and that half of all gay male
teens in the United States are HIV positive, then I think the
critics need some serious target practice.
I’ve barely been able to write a column without having to
stop myself from going off on a rant about the ridiculous ways this
country thinks up of teaching sex ed. False information and
misguided advice? Enough said.
The fact that I’m not a “sexpert” should not
even be an issue. Just like other columnists, I’ve had to do
research so that I don’t present false information or
misguided advice, and my columns have undergone the same scrutiny
and editing process as everything else that gets published in the
Daily Bruin.
As to the stereotype that all college students are promiscuous.
That’s obviously not true. According to the 2002 Ashe Center
Student Survey Report, about 50 percent of the undergraduate
population on this campus has never had sex, but that doesn’t
mean that they’re abstaining from all sexual contact. And it
certainly doesn’t mean they will be abstinent their entire
lives. People should ideally know everything they need to know
before they have sex, not after.
Sex columns are a little ridiculous ““ it’s
ridiculous that there’s a need for them. It’s
ridiculous that we’re continuing to have to fight for rights
that should be obvious such as abortion and birth control.
It’s ridiculous that factual and helpful information is not
more readily available and even more ridiculous that one of the
best ways to get misguided advice is to attend a high school sex ed
class.
Newspapers pride themselves on presenting factual information
that pertains to their readers. That’s why college newspapers
are the perfect place for sex columns. If done correctly, sex
columns present information and advice that pertains to the main
readers of college newspapers ““ college students.
Loewenstein is done talking about sex, but you can still
e-mail her at lloewenstein@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.