DURBAN, South Africa “”mdash; Besides being basically across the globe from each other, the United States and South Africa have a lot of things in common, including a recent history of racial segregation and a mechanism of trying to make amends for that history ”“ racial affirmative action. Racial affirmative action ““ giving people priority […]
Author Archives: Lara Loewenstein
Break friendship boundaries
DURBAN, South Africa ””mdash; When I told people I was studying abroad in South Africa, many of them reacted to the effect of, “Isn’t that dangerous?” or “You know people in South Africa have AIDS, right?” After I arrived and decided to go into downtown Durban to buy groceries, many South Africans, especially white South […]
Sex columns help educate, clear up misconceptions
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 […]
Porn should keep a pulse on women’s needs
I recently decided that I need to come to terms with the fact that I really do enjoy porn. I’ve battled with the idea that it’s ridiculously sexist, that it’s geared toward a male audience, that it’s addictive, and that it has to, in some way, affect the psyches of those who watch it. For […]
If only my workplace included a vibrator and a telephone
Since coming to terms with the that fact that I’m not a “healthy” enough person to donate my eggs, I’ve been on the hunt for other part-time jobs. At Take Back the Night, I heard a very motivating speech by a sex worker, and for a minute I considered prostitution. It was a short minute. […]
Proactive attitude necessary to end sexual violence
Walk by Schoenberg Hall today and you’ll see the hundreds of shirts that hang on the clotheslines. Stop for a chat with someone wearing a red shirt that reads “Lives are on the line” and you’ll quickly find out the latest statistics about sexual violence ““ how underreported rape is because survivors are afraid of […]
If women have the right to choose, men should have it too
When a woman unintentionally becomes pregnant she has options such as abortion, carrying the child to term, adoption or becoming a mother. But when a man unintentionally fathers a child he has few choices. If the woman chooses to have the child, then the man involved is held financially liable for the child without having […]