There are few things in the Daily that receive more attention than the Jumble or crossword. But when sex columns grace the pages of this paper, the puzzles get pushed aside. Students writing about sex get noticed — and whether they earn applause or simply raise eyebrows, it seems that sex columnists in student newspapers are here to stay.
Daniel Reimold, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Tampa, has paid particular attention to this trend and the way in which it is revolutionizing student journalism. Reimold's book "Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism Revolution," published in September, focuses entirely on student sex columnists. After reading more than 2,000 sex columns written by hundreds of student journalists at colleges across the country, Reimold found that columnists of this type tended to become celebrities on their campuses and paved the way to more open and frank conversations about sex and sexuality.
According to Reimold, student sex columnists are able to talk about sex in a way that is scarcely seen in other media outlets.
"What I found was that no one else, especially within the media, was talking about sex, dating, sexual health … on any sort of regular basis and with any sort of candor — the type of candor that most of us will have regular conversations about but never see in any larger sense," Reimold told the Daily. "They joke about it on TV shows, we get glimpses of it in R−rated material or on HBO, and they sort of talk around it and try to sensationalize it on various talk shows, but we don't see any real−life, real−time discussions about it."
Sex columnists, Reimold said, are filling a void — no pun intended.
"What the students are doing with these columns for the most part is having the real everyday conversations about sex, sexuality, love and dating that are really missing from the discussion everywhere else in society," he said.
For Reimold, dialogue on topics like these, often considered taboo, should not be something to shy away from. Sex columns serve to remedy this tendency, he said.
"They really are sort of revolutionizing journalism in the sense that they're opening up the doors to a topic that was thought to be unpalatable for regular readers and finding that, on the reverse, they tend to be much more popular than everything else that runs in the paper," Reimold said. "People are really clamoring for this type of discussion."
But not everyone has the same open attitude about sex in student newspapers, as some feel that sex columns are inappropriate for campus publications. It is not uncommon for these pieces to cause a stir among the student body.
"They've always caused a lot of controversy," Reimold said. "As long as there is sex in the student newspaper, there will be some negative feedback."
Amber Madison (LA '05), a former Daily sex columnist and author of two books on sexual health, found that her column "Between the Sheets" received a wide variety of responses.
"I think Tufts is a very liberal atmosphere, so most students and faculty were receptive. Of course there were definitely students and faculty who were either offended by it or thought I was a whore and generally reacted badly," Madison said. "I guess what I felt more was when I met people — once they found out that I was the person who wrote the column — they would have strong feelings about me one way or the other that weren't based at all on who I actually was."
Many critics fear that sex columns do nothing but encourage promiscuity and the hook−up culture that is perceived to be pervasive on college campuses. Reimold, however, believes that there isn't much evidence to support this argument.
"It's funny to me that these columnists and their editors are often charged with being sort of sexual aggressors or sexual sensationalizers simply because they put this material in the paper or choose to write it," Reimold said.
Instead, he said, these students may provide a bit of wisdom to subjects many are too coy to speak of.
"In many cases, more than anyone else in their community, besides maybe the campus health center officials, they're actually the ones tending to be kind of the voices of caution or the voice of reason in getting students to think about the behaviors they're engaged in," Reimold said. "It's interesting to me and sort of sad that the critics often miss that simply because they see the word ‘sex' in a headline or in a lede sentence and simply assume the worst."
Madison agreed that sex columns don't promote promiscuity, but added that there are right — and wrong — ways to write one.
"A small column in a college paper is not going to all of a sudden make someone have sex who wasn't going to already," Madison said. "I think with sex columns, there's a responsible and irresponsible way to do it. You can take the trashy angle and talk about the details of the people you've hooked up with, but you can also make it educational and talk about issues that are really on students' minds."
Writing an educational sex column doesn't guarantee that it will be taken seriously. For senior Greg Lee, sex columns are more entertaining than informative.
"I don't read them that often, but when I do, it's mostly for the shock value," Lee said. "I feel like it's hard to take them seriously, but they do provide a certain level of entertainment."
The best sex columns, Reimold said, are the ones that have thoughtful and intelligent questions backing up what may have initial entertainment value. These pieces can serve as resources and catalysts for dialogue about sexual relations on campus.
"The good stuff is sort of the candid conversations about the types of issues or activities that students are engaged in but not talking about freely enough," he said. "I find the best columns or the ones that tend to be the most popular are the ones that are sort of asking the questions, ‘What does it all mean?'; ‘Is this a good thing that we are involved in?'; ‘Is it time for us to stop, slow down and take a look at what we are doing?'"
