Letter to the Editor: Sex positivity includes more than provocative photos

NIKKI GREEN FACULTY & STAGED INTIMACY CHOREOGRAPHER

It may be unexpected that someone closer to 40 than to 30 agrees with the Student Life editor that “the sex issue” is an important tradition, but I applaud the sex positivity throughout last week’s paper. And while I admit it is the only installment of “Student Love” I’ve read, I’m afraid I felt it missed several valuable opportunities.

Firstly, it would probably be helpful for many readers to define “kink,” since it is not in fact the heteronormative comment (depending of course on the gender of the commenter) published in that section of “juicy tales from the bedroom,” but is generally accepted to mean unconventional sexual desires or fantasies, which may or may not ever be acted upon for a variety of reasons unique to each individual.

While reading the central piece of the issue, the survey results titled “Listen Up Sugar Babies,” I found myself wishing over and over again that additional information had been provided with the results. For example, the stats regarding masturbation and pornography consumption were the perfect pivot for discussing the way people raised female are socialized to not center their own sexual pleasure and/or agency, and are therefore more likely to under-represent their instances of self-pleasure (which incidentally probably skewed those results).

Additionally, a large percentage of people consider pornography to be taboo, causing feelings of shame or disgust in response to discussions about this type of sex work. At the same time, in this Google-anything age, porn serves as the first experience of sex for many young people, often setting up unrealistic expectations and/or feelings of unease about engaging in sexual activity. Surely a discussion of the performative aspect of ethically-produced pornography would fit perfectly beside those related survey results. Or, based solely on the title of the section, a report on the different kinds of sex work and their (hiding) place in society would be a welcome addition. In the “sex by grade” and “sex by school” sections, I was disappointed to see no mention that people raised male tend to over-inflate their sexual experience, while people raised female tend to do the opposite, meaning that these results likely had some built-in inaccuracy. I was pleased, however, to see that some of the reasons behind these societally-imposed tendencies were discussed in the beautifully written opinion piece, “The P Also Stands For Power.” I wonder if somewhere along the sexy

Staff Editorial

candyland-inspired graphic there could have been a list of resources for more sex education. So many teens and young adults are afraid to admit they don’t know as much as their partner(s), or they don’t “get” the dirty joke, so they end up learning from their friends, from the media, from porn, all of which can lead to bad experiences, perpetuated stereotypes, and a general lack of positive feelings about sex and sexuality!

While some areas of society may be improving in our conversations about sexual orientation, gender expression beyond the binary, sexual agency, and more, we often still make assumptions about the sexual experience of people past a certain age bracket

(i.e. college students). If it is true that we can’t have an open and honest discourse about the myriad levels of sexual experience, might I recommend some resources for the privacy of one’s earbuds or e-reader: the podcast, “Come As You Are with Dr. Emily Nagoski,” or Dr. Nagoski’s book of the same name. I also hear excellent things about the book, “The Sex Ed You Never Had” by Chantelle Otten.

In closing, I have to applaud the respondent whose “go-to move” was to just ask because consent is sexy. Their comment was the only mention of consent I noticed in the whole issue, and they are absolutely correct. Consent is very sexy.

WashU

Editor’s note: This article contains discussion of transphobia. Resources for anyone impacted by this topic are listed at the bottom of this page.

On Feb. 9, Missouri

Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched an investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital after an opinion piece written by former case worker Jamie Reed criticizing the center appeared in “The Free Press,” a right-wing publication which has published other transphobic and sensationalized content.

So far, the response by Washington University administration to the investigation has failed to consistently affirm the right to healthcare for patients at the center. Statements released by the University have been inconsistent and have legitimized the attacks on its own healthcare services. The University must rectify this by voicing more consistent support for the Center as well as for its transgender students during this time of crisis.

In her article, Jamie Reed calls for a “moratorium” on gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, meaning that transgender minors would be denied access to life-saving puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and other medical services.

While positioning herself as a “whistleblower,” most of the criticisms Reed has of the Transgender Center are not concerned with policy or conduct of staff at the institution.

Rather, the article criticizes the Center for doing precisely what it is supposed to do: providing transgender minors with