Sex. It’s prevalent everywhere. We are all a product of it. Yet for some reason talking about sex is still somewhat of a taboo.
The Equinox believes we should work at eliminating this taboo.
We believe in the importance of making the topic of sex an open conversation. The more we can comfortably speak about sex, the more knowledge we will collectively have.
Openly talking about sex would benefit us all because many people are misinformed about things like what it means to have safe sex, how to be aware of sexually transmitted diseases and where to go to get contraceptives.
We want to challenge this notion of staying quiet about sex.
There shouldn’t be so much shame involved with sex in general.
Let’s face it, we live in a college community where sex is inevitable.
The smartest decision for us to all make is to just talk about sex to make the topic less uncomfortable.
We want promote a more common understanding about sex and everything that goes along with it. The more we normalize it, the better off we will all be.
With this said, we encourage all students to take advantage of the resources we have here on campus.
All students should be aware of the health center, which is located in the Elliot Center.
There you can get free condoms, pregnancy tests, female condoms and even access plan B at a reduced price.
These are all made available to us on campus because the school believes in the importance of safe sex.
However, this is not an excuse for students to go wild and rely on the health center all the time. We need to make smart informed decisions for ourselves seeing as we are now adults leading adult like lives.
With proper education, and open minds we can all work toward making sex a more common conversation.
Majors like women and gender studies work at breaking the silence about sex.
There is no need to hush a conversation that so desperately needs to be had.
Being open with sex and sexuality is something that we value and see as important.
All sexes have roles to play in this situation.
It is so crucial that we work at getting rid of stereotypes that females should remain proper and quiet about their sexual partners to avoid being called certain names.
And men should not feel the pressure to constantly seek sex.
We believe society and pop culture tosses around many ideas of what sex should mean to both males and females and how they should go about having and discussing it.
We do not encourage this behavior.
Photo illustration by Jake Coughlin / Administrative Executive Editor
There is a fine line between being open about sex and maintaining a level of privacy.
Know the difference between asking for help and bragging about details that might be better left unsaid.
When talking about sex, it is so crucial that we use the correct terminology.
Oftentimes we hear the words sex, sexuality and gender being tossed around without real knowledge about what these words actually mean.
In order to have an open and honest conversation about sex, we believe there needs to be clarification about what these words mean and the weight they are capable of holding.
Your sex is your biological make up, whether you are born with a penis or vagina.
Sexuality is what your sexual identity is. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. is related to your sexuality.
Lastly, we have gender.
It is imperative that we understand gender as a social construct.
This is how you express yourself. It is related to the roles you play, whether that be your place of work, how you choose to dress, etc.
These three separate concepts are essential in understanding sex as a whole.
Once we as a society become familiar and comfortable with the difference between these words, we can come to a more nuanced understanding altogether.
We need to come to the point as a society where we see sex as something normal and something that shouldn’t involve so much shame.
Changing the conversation from something silly that we can’t talk about without giggling to something serious will help get us to the point we wish to reach.
After all, sex is a natural part of who we are as human beings.
The source of our existence comes from reproduction, so the more we educate ourselves and those around us, the more likely we are to live happy and healthy lifestyles.
