Responses
Timothy Guy, 3/6/2005, 12:45:48 AM
Thanks for bringing this up! We just started planning on doing an ongoing sex column and just by the initial talks we have received some negative reactions. I think the students will both enjoy it and maybe be informed by it.
Keep us updated on how it goes.
Timothy Guy
Editor-in-Chief
Viewpoints
Riverside, CA
Michelle Garcia, 3/7/2005, 9:23:00 PM
Yeah, we just started running a sex column every other week. It's written by the correspondent on a campus TV show called Sex on TOP (our station's name is WTOP... cute, huh?). Anyway, it hasn't really drawn any heat, but the person who is interested in taking it over next year (the current writer is graduating) seems like she's going to have some pretty controversial stuff. I go to a state school in New York, so sex in the paper isn't really a big deal unless it gets lewd. That's just the vibe here. We've also been lucky in that the adminstration leaves us alone. If anyone harasses us its other student organizations or our student government asking for more coverage of their bake sales and whatnot...
Kaua, 3/15/2005, 1:13:14 PM
Aloha, We had a Sex Column in our campus paper a few years ago that caused an enormous ruckus. We had not only Administation and Students giving us heat but our local Community as well. We have quite a few activities open to the public on our campus' and it seemed that some of the younger community students under the age of 18 were getting ahold of the paper.
Just a word of advice, keep to the facts!
I know that at times it seems fun & even funny to write whatever comes to mind in these columns, and at times make up stories for the column.
But the only way to continue a column of this type os to stick strictly to the facts, not guesses or myths.
Respect yourself, your paper, and those around you. It isn't always easy to have this type of column in a school paper, but I try to remind both the faculty administrators as well as students;
We are all adults here and have the right to write & read what we choose. We also have the right to NOT read something that offends us. AND behave adultly about it.
Good luck to you all who choose this topic, it is an avenue that needs to brought out to our youth to inform them. Some students are afraid to ask questions, or don't know what questions to ask.
Good Luck! & let me know how it goes!
mlivsey@hawaii.edu
Rob V., 4/13/2005, 3:12:46 PM
When I was hired as director of the student media program here, the student newspaper was pretty well known for its sex column. It was a light-hearted "he says/she says" look at some pretty raunchy sex-related topics. There were topics that were relevant, but they were buried underneath the lewdness of it and a vague attempt at humor.
Sure, you can keep it clean by making it almost a "medical" sex column, but that's not the interest most sex columns are meant to generate. And I'm not sure how many college students are certified sex therapists or sex experts (in the biological sense, anyway).
We had complaints from students, faculty, and administration... and, I think, with good reason. We were briefly hailed as being heroes of defiance in the face of strictly conservative views on campus, but that didn't last. And, remember, shock value only lasts so long.
Our last edition of the sex column was in May of 2004. It is now April of 2005. I STILL hear people complaining about the sex column, and people haven't even noticed it's been gone for a year. Why? Because they stopped reading, and didn't bother re-starting (and we've won regional awards since then!).
Think of the impact a silly sex column will have on your paper, and if that's the image you really want. Do you want to be known as a great source of information on campus, or as constantly bordering on being offensive?
And, again, I have to stress: shock value only lasts so long. Even the writers didn't think it was so cool any more after awhile.
Rob Velella
Washington & Jefferson College
Adam Crisp (The George-Anne), 5/5/2005, 12:53:22 AM
Our previous editor in chief hired on a sex columnist, but we're fairly certain the new editor is going to give a complete redo, complete with big-time restrictions, or just axe column altogether.
The guy who has been writing it is gay, and while we're certain there is a sizable homosexual enrollment here, we've really questioned the validity of his opinion. All that aside, there are certain common denominators that transcend sexuality, so I wouldn't reject his opinion based on his persuasion.
But, he's just lewd. Here's a snip from one of his columns about cyber sex:
A guy who’s great in bed may be lousy at the keyboard. Just as phone-sex conversations oft en mirror the strippeddown language of porn videos, cybersex borrows heavily from erotica: “Oh, yeah, harder, harder!” or “Now I’m sucking that big, dripping tool of yours.”
I apologize if that's offensive, and that's just the problem. We hate the fact that his columns never seem to be the tame "I think my boyfriend is cheating. What should do I do?" sort. Instead, he gives 10 pointers on how to cheat and not get caught.
We're going to ask that he tone it down or take his columns somewhere else. You think we are being too conservative in wanting a more traditional columnist with bubblegum advice?
--Adam Crisp
The George-Anne
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, Ga.
Scott Sternberg, 7/5/2005, 5:43:22 PM
At The Daily Reveille, our first sex column, "On Top," caused such a stir on LSU's conservative campus that we had alumni threaten to pull money from the University, etc. But our University stood behind our rights to free speech.
I personally didn't like the column, I thought it was raunchy and went too far. Our new sex column is much more fact-based. They can be "light-hearted" but the second you start throwing in jokes every other graph, you're barking up the wrong tree.
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it belongs in a newspaper, all the time.
Scott Sternberg
Editor-in-Chief
The Daily Reveille
Louisiana State University
Jack Gillum, 8/1/2005, 4:24:32 PM
I agree with Scott. Personally, as an editor, I'd rather attract controversy to hard-news stories that warrant it.
Granted, that doesn't mean you shouldn't run a racy column, but unless you have a columnist with superb writing ability, it's probably not worth the headache.
I'm generally opposed to stirring the pot for the sake of stirring it, which a lot of times, that's what sex-related columns do. Besides, I think your paper should focus its writing/reporting on things people *don't* already know about.
Just my $0.02.
--Jack
The Santa Clara
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, Calif.
