Thanksgiving day is just around the corner and everyone is thinking about just one thing – sex.
Wait… what does sex have to do with Thanksgiving? Nothing, but people are thinking about sex – at least according to student-run newspapers across the country.
UWIRE.com, a web site highlighting various stories from college newspapers, has devoted a section of its site to sex, titled Risqu’eacute; Reads. The section exhibits the work of student sex columnists from around the country.
Apparently, college students are still as curious as ever and have decided to transcribe their findings for their horny classmates.
The topics in Risqu’eacute; Reads range from Dear Abby type columns to porn movie reviews. "The Cardinal Points," Plattsburgh State University’s student-run newspaper, even ran an ABCs of Sex column, using each letter of the alphabet to explain a sexual reference. Should you want to know the meanings of autassassinophilia or grundle, check with them.
While the topics may seem extreme to some, that fact is that nobody would be writing about them had there not been an initial interest. It’s no surprise that the college-aged crowd is sexually curious, so dedicating a column to explaining certain situations or letting students know they are not freaks for thinking certain thoughts is not such a bad thing.
And these aren’t just sexually frustrated fraternity boys putting bathroom-stall artwork in the newspaper. The Cardinal Points’ story, for example, is written by a female writer who has also written some very nice traditional-news stories.
The truth is that no matter how taboo some topics are, people are going to read them, if only out of curiosity. Much curiosity comes with sexuality, especially at a young age. Some of you are probably only reading this because the headline says something about sex.
However, not all sex columns have had high acclaim. In 2006, University of Southern Mississippi President Shelby Thames criticized their student newspaper, The Student Printz, for running its weekly Pillow Talk column. According to an Associated Press story, Thames called the column "offensive to the quality and respectability of our student body and institution."
The First Amendment gives all newspapers, whether student-run or nationally distributed, the ability to run a sex column. These stories may not be for everyone, but that doesn’t mean that those who want to read them shouldn’t be able to.
