COLUMN Sex and the College

Author: Andrea La Rocca

"What is your favorite word in the English language?" The question, posed to a group of Middlebury students, causes a moment of contemplation, possibly of confusion, and then ...
"SEX!"
Surprise, surprise — or not. Would you really expect anything less from Middlebury students? Especially from Middlebury students who are still recovering from the hook-ups and break-ups of fall break? (It's an oxymoron at Middlebury: Fall break is meant for recovering from midterms, but most of Middlebury comes back to campus needing to recover from the long weekend of a hometown relationship or one-night stand trauma. Such a vicious cycle!)
Yes, even at Middlebury, sex is a buzzword that sparks interest, opinions and conversation. Sixties or not, it's still a slightly taboo subject. Salt-n-Pepa or not, there's still a right time and right place for talking about sex. But all these social constraints or not, Middlebury undoubtedly likes the topic.
Why? What exactly do Midd- kids think about "sex"?
"What do you think about sex?" Yes, that's what I asked. "Well, um, well ..." Hmm. It seems that the question is either incomprehensible or half of Middlebury hasn't ever thought about sex. Or, perhaps, even on our very liberal campus, the public discussion of sex is still hindered by personal inhibitions. "Sex? Sex, well, um, sex." OK, for our sake, let's hope people here are just shy, not that dumb or naïve.
As for the extroverted half of the Middlebury campus, I found that men and women, not surprisingly, had different opinions on sex. Most Middlebury women answered my question with long, in-depth analyses of relationships and the role of sex in a relationship. They talked of sex with a capital S: Sex, a noun, a verb, an adjective, a central question in each and every relationship. And Middlebury men, well, they talked about the questions of sex, too. In fact, many of them answered my question of, "What do you think about sex?" with a question of their own: "Would you like a demonstration?" No, thanks. I have to, um, wash my hair tonight.
In other words, the stereotype of men and women defining sex differently seems to persevere at Middlebury, with the men looking for some lovin' and women looking for love.
That's the other aspect of "sex." It's a highly interpretable word (translation: be sure that your definition matches his/hers). But is this female-male division only on the surface or is it true in the reality of Middlebury relationships? When sex ideologies are put to the test, what are the men and women at Middlebury really like? Sounds like another question that needs to be answered ... next time.