It is unlikely that topics like dating, relationships and sex is lost on most students. But seeking advice in these areas, or even just talking about them, may not always be the easiest thing to do.
Creating a comfortable environment for students to discuss and learn about such hot-button topics with professionals is the idea behind Yale University's third Sex Week that ended Feb. 18.
The week was full of risque events like stripping lessons and a lingerie show, but the main focus of Sex Week is relationships, according to Eric Rubenstein, the founder of Sex Week.
"Sex is a major part of an intimate relationship, but there's more to it than that," he said. "We want to get people to critically think about sex and relationships, how they work together and how it effects their lives."
Rubenstein graduated from Yale in 2004 with a degree in business, but came back to help out with Sex Week.
Other events included lectures like "Sex and Love in the Age of the Booty Call" from a sex therapist, "The Art of Mackin'" from a dating specialist and a discussion on homosexuality and religion led by a former Catholic priest. There is even a magazine dedicated to Sex Week put together by Yale undergrads.
"The College Striptease" with a former Playboy TV host has probably gotten the most attention from the media, Rubenstein said, but people have had the wrong impression about it. Part of the class is an in-depth look at how stripping effects society - why it turns some men on and why some women find it empowering, he said.
"It's more than just a striptease class," he said. "The first half talks about why men go to strip clubs and why women do it. It talks about things that are overlooked when people think of stripping. Then the second half is 'This is how you do it.'"
Most people concentrate on just one side of sexuality, according to Diana Oliver, psychology graduate student who teaches a class on human sexuality at The University of Memphis.
"People tend to focus on the physical aspects of sexuality, especially in the media, and less on the relationship aspect," she said. She said there is plenty of information about sexuality available to people. But what people lack is knowledge of their own sexuality as well as sexuality of the opposite sex.
"We will not have a generation of teenagers and young adults who are educated and knowledgeable about sexuality until we have parents who are educated and knowledgeable about sexuality," Oliver said.
Something like Sex Week could be a way to fill a missing link in sex education as long as it is done in a good way and not too sensationalized, like porn stars and stripping lessons she said, but educating everyone - not just college students - on sexuality is important.
"Do I think Sex Week could be a good thing? Absolutely," Oliver said. Rubenstein said he thinks it is important to take one week to look at neglected issues critically, but knows that some campuses are more conservative than Yale. So Sex Week might not work everywhere. However, for schools that are interested in putting something like Sex Week together, Rubenstein said that he and some of the folks behind Sex Week at Yale would gladly lend a hand.
"We'd be happy to help because we think it's something that will help society," he said. But if a school is going to dedicate a whole week to sexual awareness it had better be done right, said Jennifer Barclay, undecided sophomore. "On one hand it's promoting awareness by teaching and informing students about sex," she said. "But on the other hand it seems like it's just putting sex out there." Hannah Gibert, freshman psychology major, agreed. "It would definitely be a very interesting week on campus," she said. "But I'd be kinda iffy about it."
