Gonzaga talks college sex

A discussion of sex on Gonzaga's campus, "Let's Talk about Sex," attracted over 125 students, who crammed into room 110 in Jundt Tuesday, Nov. 29, to listen to a panel of students and faculty speak and participate in a question and answer session.

The panel consisted of Fr. Craig Hightower,  S.J., Professor Kathy Finley from Gonzaga's religious studies department, Lori Tochterman, a nursing lecturer on campus, and students Nolan Grady and Ayaka Dohi. The event was the brainchild of Laura Forester and Tasha D'Souza, who started a committee to advocate sexual health on campus.

Grady began the presentation by talking about his sexual education, or lack thereof, through middle school and high school. He said that he often passed out during sex ed, and that his way of learning about sex was not optimal.

"The majority of my sex education came from the cafeteria," he said. "Avoiding queasiness and thinking about getting lucky should not be what comes to mind when talking about sex."

Finley took a philosophical approach to explaining why we have the views we do about sex.

"This dualistic notion says to us that the soul, mind, and spirit of the human person is far more important and higher than the body and the flesh," she said. "All of us in this room got the idea that certain parts of our body were not OK."

Tochterman gave more concrete advice to students interested in sexual health. She said that when someone at a clinic asks if a patient is sexually active, they are asking about more than just intercourse. She said that there is no substitute for taking Plan B the morning after sex — taking three birth control pills after the fact is no more effective than taking 10 jelly beans. She also recommended getting a Gardasil vaccine to prevent HPV, even if you do not have sex.

"We now have an epidemic of STIs [sexually transmitted infections] in your age group," she said about men and women between 18 and 24 years old.

Dohi, who is studying sociology and women and gender studies, attempted to deconstruct what she called the "hook-up culture." She explained why women react more emotionally than men after sexual activity by quoting statistics on how much faster men get pleasure out of hooking up.

"It annoys me when people ask ‘Why is she being so emotional?' Well she probably didn't reach orgasm, she didn't get anything out of it," she said.

"Some people just get stuck in a cycle of the hooking up culture because they think that's the only way they're going to be with someone," she said. "You get out of college and you don't know how to have a real relationship anymore. We want that instant gratification instead of getting to know someone."

Fr. Hightower anchored the panel, and gave a Jesuit interpretation of sex in college. He agreed with Dohi about the implications of the college drinking culture on life after Gonzaga.

"We have to challenge drunkenness," he said. "College is the only place where it is acceptable to be drunk in public. That's not the real world, and if you think it is you're full of shit."

He was careful to make the distinction that drinking in itself is acceptable, but being drunk is not. He made the point that most sexual assaults that happen on campus are tied to drunkenness.

Catholic Church is not a rulebook, but more of a recipe book. It provides different ways to combine ingredients, but, much like ice cream and pizza, you can't always combine certain ingredients.

"The Church is calling all of us, gay or straight, to a sense of chastity," he said.

Hightower also answered a question submitted by an audience member — why the health center on campus can give prescriptions for everything except birth control. He said that people wanting to get contraceptives on campus is not about the health or safety of the woman, but was "a matter of convenience." He said that some people may disagree with him, but noted the Catholic Church distributing condoms in Africa as an example of how when contraception is strictly a health issue, as it is in a country like Zambia where women don't enjoy the same rights as Americans, the Church breaks from tradition and helps the local people.

Tochterman dealt with another audience question — the effects of birth control on a woman's fertility and "craziness." She said that studies have proved that the pill has no effect on fertility, and that while it may affect someone's behavior, "acting crazy" could just as well be attributed to other factors like the stress of college life.

"The reality is that you guys are 18 to 22, this is a rough time in your life," she said.