SEX -- or more conservatively termed "relationship" -- columns have been popping up in college publications around the country at schools such as UC-Berkeley, NYU, Yale and ACC pals like Wake Forest and Maryland. Now, The Cav Daily has followed suit, with mixed results.
The CD tried its hand at sex columns in 2002, running a few installments that eventually fizzled out. Now the paper's new Health & Sexuality section features weekly sex columns. Debut pieces by Katja Schubl and Gretchen Zimmerman, while bold and certainly gutsy, leave much to be desired.
The first column, Schubl's "It's best not to go down if you can't loosen up," (Feb. 16) is a scatterbrained mess of decently written thoughts that never really offers up a centralized point. From the headline, readers might think the piece will address questions about oral sex, and, though it does address the subject, it also meanders into other topics without tying them adequately to the central point of the column, which, apparently, is to relax in the bedroom. Or focus on the logistics of sex. Or hold off on kissing after oral.
Schubl steps over the tact line when she refers to folks denying that "sperm tastes like old pennies and stale mayo." I doubt that anyone elevates the taste of semen to the level of a revered delicacy. I also worry that being able to graphically describe that particular taste might yield future discussion on the flavors of other parts of the human body. I reprint the depiction here only as example. Saying that semen tastes bad is OK, but describing how it does is a bit tasteless for a newspaper.
Zimmerman's column ("Welcome to the G-Spot," Feb. 23) reads too much like a diary and less like the educational, advice-driven pieces I'd hoped these columns to be. Writers must relate their text to the audience. Simply talking about one's sexual history and how it's unfair that people misperceive one as a slut is not enough. Address the bigger picture. What about talking to other people on Grounds? What are some statistics that show the young adult perspective on sexuality and promiscuity?
The column opens in a confessional manner, with the writer bemoaning the tired ol' double standard. Sex-happy men: playas. Sex-happy women: sluts. I'm not sure how many people these days actually differentiate between men with numerous partners and women. Is she referring to the media's presentation of male and female hyper-sexual beings? If so, then write a column about that.
Also, the claim that "because I don't have a penis, I'm supposed to keep these thoughts to myself" is a totally bunk assumption. Who says women should keep these thoughts to themselves? Give readers examples. American culture started to discard the whole chicks-can't-talk-about-sex thing a long time ago. "Sex and the City" is just going off the air. Elaine on "Seinfeld" judged men by their sponge-worthiness on primetime network television years ago. And this month's Cosmo cover alone features teasers including "Very Sexy Things to Do After Sex," "Skank Alert" and "Hilarious Hook-ups." Clearly the penis is no longer a prerequisite for gabbing about sex.
Zimmerman uses her own sexual history as a measuring stick for misperception. Putting oneself out like that in print is a brave thing to do, but it can have weighty consequences. The Web site Fark.com picked up on the column and opened a message board about it, and the feedback was mostly derogatory and insulting. At the writer's request, the column was removed from the CD's Web site for a few hours while the fark.com discussion subsided. Though understandable, this action makes the paper look weak.
Kurt Davis offered up a review of "Sexual Darwinism," a book by David M. Buss. Though Davis is bylined as a columnist, this piece shifts between wanting to be a straightforward review and a whimsical look at a book in a column. I wasn't quite sure which Davis was trying to accomplish.
Bottom line, the writing in each of these pieces is sub par. Sex as a topic shouldn't give writers the ability to take their writing less seriously. I've been tough before on reviewers and columnists, and I'm not being any tougher because these folks are writing about sex; it's the how that concerns me. These are debuts from these writers, and I hope that after they get a few more columns under their belt, their skills will sharpen.
Some readers wrote in to me and called the columns "disgusting" or thought that they were "turning the Cavalier Daily into a rag." Another pointed out that "an author need not advertise her sexual prowess in order to write about sex. If one is truly sexually liberated, can't one show that in the column by being knowledgeable about the topic in general?" Though I agree with the last comment, I don't feel that the presence of sex columns in the CD is disgusting or makes the Cav Daily less prestigious. Quality sex columns can be of great benefit for the readers of this newspaper. If these new writers tighten up their focus, assume less and stay on the good side of the tact line -- all things I would suggest to any writer -- the columns will be much better additions to the CD.
Emily Kane can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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