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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1978)
College sex: an undercover legend? Editors Note: Emerald reporter John Crowley interviewed 30 students in frater nity houses, dormitories and on the street to determine prevailing student attitudes about collegiate sex. By JOHN CROWLEY For the Emerald Is the sexual revolution still raging a cross college campuses? in Eugene, where thousands of young bodies are thrown together every year, sex is a popular topic. Some say they manage to advance past theory and into practice, but can we believethere is a new morality? If there has been a sexual revolution, according to one counselor, “all that's changed is people's willingness to talk ex plicitly about their sexual problems.'’ Although only about 5 percent of the problems brought to the University Coun seling Center are identified as sexual, they fall into three main complaints: men who have few or no sexual outlets: women who have outlets but find them unsatisfy ing. and members of both sexes who are uneasy with their sexuality of worry about not measuring up to our swinging times. Many men and women complain that the college sex life isn’t all it's cracked up to be. In fact, few say their experiences haven't been what they’d hoped they would be. “It’s true that there’s more sex in Eugene than in most towns its size,” ob served one woman student, “but that doesn’t mean it’s good sex. They don’t teach you that here. “The problem starts when the expecta tions people bring with them turn out to be just that They think it’ll be so easy and great. Then they get here and the games begin.' Talk of games floats about a lot, perhaps because most people seem to be playing them: the meeting game, the scor ing game, the relationship game. Students describe them with a frankness bom of experience. “Men use sex as a joke” University dorm resident Heather Yarris said. “I mean, we like guys. We like to look out the window at them playing basketball and comment among ourselves. But it’s not a jesting matter, like with the men. “At parties they always expect it They assume you want it, even if you only smile back at them.” “It’s all lovey-dovey until they get turned down,’’ added Joanne Frank, another dorm resident. “Then they’re looking at It ain ’t necessarily so Graphic by Tom Enel their watches, saying, well, I’ve got a paper to write’, or I’ve got an early class tomorrow’. . . But men complained, about crossed signals too. Many thought women took advantage of alluring fashions, but Tom Norris, in a moment of candor, added some perspective. “I'm sure they1 re aware of the implications, but so are men. I mean, I’ll wear tight pants sometimes, when I know they ! be looking.” Dennis Gaetano, a junior, explored another area of misunderstanding. “Most women I’ve known expect too much. They’re more emotionally in volved in what’s going on.” Indeed, many men lamented, “they want to marry you." Do they? Well, yes. Nearly all women who had an opinion on the subject re ported that affection, trust and love were what they looked for in a relation ship, even though they often settled for less. “It’s a hard choice to make if you’re lonely,” said Yarris. “Even if you’re really being pressured by a guy, sometimes you give in. If you don’t, usually you won’t see him again." “I never consider that," freshman Janet McNie disagreed. “I’d rather feel lonely than cheap.” Many men, however, voice no such distaste for cheapness. In fact, about half those questioned seemed to corroborate the cavalier image given them. For these men, college rep resented a suspension from responsibil ity, a holiday from consequence. “I’ll get married someday, and when I do, it’ll be with a nice chick,” predicted one fraternity member. “But hell, we're in school . You know, we re finding out about sex and all that. There’s plenty of time for that romantic stuff when you’re ready for it. I’m not.” Down the street, Rocky Schatz, another Greek, felt differently. He consi dered himself, and all the guys in his fraternity, gentlemen. "Everything you’ve heard about Greeks is a rumor,” he explained. “We feel it’s important to treat women nicely. They like that. Hell, were into old fashioned stuff around here. Dances, in viting them to dinner, stuff like that. We re into chivalry. We re romantic." Author Dr. Joyce Brothers, would find that attitude commendable. She writes: "We re not as swinging a people as we think we are. People found out that in stant sex is about as satisfying as a sneeze.” So where does that leave the sexual revolution? Hasn’t anything changed? One thing has. A counselor at the center, Bill Kirtner, has noticed “the de crease in the number of homosexuals coming in expressing a desire to change, to become straight.’ Whether this is because of a greater acceptance of that life-style, or the availability of peer counseling, we don’t know.” Carol Queen, who runs the Gay People’s Alliance office, has a theory. “Gays have a better self-image lately, more positive,” she said. “I think the ref erendum (Eugene’s gay rights meas ure, defeated last spring) had a lot to do with it. People who’d spent the whole term walking past our door finally got the courage to take that big step and come in. “When you’re reading your life story in the news, you realize you're not alone, even if you've grown up that way.” “Bisexuality,” Woody Allen observed, “immediately doubles your chances of a date on Saturday night.” Even so, bisexuals — the vanguard, one would think, of whatever sexual revolution we might be having — receive precious little support. "To each group — the heterosexuals and the homosexuals — the bi's are in the other camp,” explained Carol. “Talk about an identity crisis." If there’s been a sexual revolution, its effect has been to convince its veterans that the old ways of love and romance can withstand the barrage of instant sex. “I did some fooling around for a while last year,” confessed Mark Boldt, a sophomore dorm resident. “But no more. It’s different when you feel affec tion. It’s better when you’re in love.” Ludwig Van Broekhuizen, his neigh bor, agreed somewhat: “Or at least in like. Deep like."
