The Daily Wildcat’s Monday Q&A column, SexTalk, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
It debuted on Valentine’s Day in 1995 and has been answering UA students’ questions about sexual relationships and health matters ever since.
Campus Health Service is inviting the campus community to celebrate with it for this memorable occasion today in the Highland Commons courtyard. Those who attend will be able to enjoy cake and celebrate with the column’s writers.
“We’re excited to commemorate this milestone,” said Lee Ann Hamilton, assistant director of Health Promotion and Preventive Services, in a press release. “Over the past two decades, the questions have been a creative blend of education and entertainment for students and staff alike. The SexTalk column continues to be a reliable and well-respected source of health information for readers.”
Hamilton, according to the press release, wrote the first column and continues to write it with her colleagues Carrie Hardesty and David Salafsky.
Hamilton said that most of the issues and questions being asked have remained the same over the years. The answers, however, are different because we have learned more about certain issues. There are also new terms, such as “friends with benefits,” that have come up over the years and raised new questions.
“We’re more open now about talking about sexual health,” Hamilton said. “When we started, it was looked at as a place where students could go for good credible information about sex. Not just birth control or STDs but about relationships, sexual satisfaction and about what’s normal.”
Hamilton added that students now have more access to information about sexual health topics. She said that some of her favorite questions asked over the years have been about ASU having its own STD and if Mountain Dew really shrinks your testicles.
“We never thought when we started doing it [that] it would keep going on and on,” she said. “It was pretty new at the time; I don’t know that there were any sexual advice columns in any student newspapers. We think it was pretty groundbreaking.”
Natasha Dare is a sophomore studying creative writing and Japanese who said she believes it’s a good thing that the column is around.
“It’s informative, and the more information that kids have on health and staying safe, the better,” Dare said. “It’s obviously successful if they’ve been around for 20 years.”
Spencer Halliday is a pre-journalism sophomore who has not previously read the column before.
“I do think it looks very interesting, and I think it’s a really great topic to talk about, since there is kind of a taboo over sex in general,” Halliday said. “It’s a good topic to talk about so that people can be safe and know what they’re doing. I definitely think it would have been interesting 20 years ago, seeing how far we progressed about the things we do talk about.”
Sex Talk encourages students to submit their sex questions online at www.health.arizona.edu under the sex health tab.
“We hope to hear more from our readers,” Hamilton said, “and hope that we’re helping to expand people’s knowledge about sexual health.”
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