Evolution of The Sex Column |
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| By Kate Dzurila | Life & Style | December 02, 2010 | |
Talking openly about sex in a public forum is quite a recent phenomenon. People have trouble talking to even their closest friends and loved ones about sex, so it’s not surprising that reading or conversing about penises and perversions can make people uncomfortable. But considering how natural sex is, why does sexuality make so many people feel so uncomfortable? For many of us, minus those with extremely liberal upbringings, our sexuality has been repressed, in some way, since a young age. As children, our parents and teachers slap our hands if we reach down our pants in front of people, either reprimand us or pretend they didn’t see when they catch us masturbating, and put parental blocks on our computers, basically ignoring the fact that our sexualities exist. When our natural sexual urges arise at puberty, we are taught to delay or suppress what we’re feeling. Movies with sex are rated just as extremely, if not more so, as movies with violence, as if sex were harmful. Sex education classes commonly teach students to abstain from or delay sex more than they teach healthy sex. A friend of mine once explained his theory that people in positions of power, mainly religious and political figures, have seized control over our sexuality in order to exert their power. Considering that almost the entire population is nascently sexual, with many of our actions driven by our sexuality (I agree with Freud, if you couldn’t tell), control over sex means control over many of our thoughts and actions. Thus, the power-hungry seize our sexualities, with serious ramifications. However, while our sexualities are still often silenced or considered with disapproval, times are a-changin’. Some have dubbed the time we live in to be a sexual revolution, akin to the one in the 60s, when people indulged in day-long orgies in the mud at Woodstock and were finally free to have sex without worrying about pregnancy after the FDA’s approval of “The Pill,” the first widely available oral contraceptive. Our generation is far less private, with many people posting near-nude photographs of themselves online without hesitation or publicly disclosing intimate details of their sex lives. Take, for example, Karen Owen of Duke University, who recently put together a 41-page Powerpoint presentation that described her sexual encounters and gave specific details about her male partners’ penis sizes, creativity and performance in bed, and attractiveness. While most of us aren’t as extreme as Owen, we do have fewer qualms than previous generations about disclosing our wildest fantasies, our sexual quirks, our varied experiences, our need for advice, and our best tricks in bed. Student sex columns have become exponentially more popular to write and read, showing that this trend of unbridled disclosure and discussion is not relegated to the uneducated or the unthoughtful. The phenomenon of the student sex column is surprisingly recent—UC Berkley ran the nation’s first student sex column in 1996. Not surprisingly, however, there is still much difference in opinion about sex columns. Some columns, such as the series which appears in the Daily Texan, the newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin, have been met with hefty complaints and criticism. A few, like the column in the University of Montana’s student newspaper Montana Kaimin, have even been subject to attempts at censorship. Granted, the content and tone of sex columns vary widely, so some are more apt to receive criticism. Some sex columns are about direct sexual experiences, while others are about discussing controversial topics in sexuality. Some are penned anonymously and others have authors who proudly display their names. Some are funny and sexy, while others are thoughtful and serious. Sex columns push the boundaries in each extreme direction, from the outrageous and shocking to the introspective and the “lets-explore-our-feelings.” Though some feel that sex columns push the boundaries too far, I view them as important for finding that point of balance between the two extremes—where we can feel comfortable and informed without feeling embarrassed or shocked. Is this latest sexual revolution helpful or harmful? Have we pushed too far this time, or have we not yet pushed far enough? Is what we might call “oversharing” informative or unwarranted? Think hard about these questions and your own feelings when you encounter talk about sex. I feel positive about this new sexual revolution. Our so-called “darkest perversions” don’t seem so dark anymore as more people realize that what they thought was strange or shameful is actually quite normal. Our embarrassing sexual moments don’t bother us as much, since we’re more likely than ever to feel comfortable laughing about them with our friends and sharing our tales. Our sex tips and tricks are spreading, and thus our enjoyment of sex is increasing. Most importantly, we become more comfortable with sexuality as we are more exposed to it. After all, sex is as natural to us as is eating, and our hunger for both is hard to ignore. (source:the student life) ====================================================================== |
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