Maxim Sex Columnist Educates Students

Students packed Statler Auditorium yesterday for “The Complete Idiots Guide to Amazing Sex,” a lecture by Maxim sex columnist Sari Locker ’90. Sexual Health Awareness Group (SHAG), a student-run peer-education group with the goals of educating, raising awareness and decreasing stigmas around sexual health topics sponsored the event.
Locker received her bachelors at Cornell and released the book The Complete Idiots Guide to Amazing Sex in August 2005. Having returned to campus in many years, she said, “I’m getting all choked up.”
Locker used slides to help explain how much sex is integrated into the current student’s popular culture. The slides included such pictures as the Clinton-Lewinsky controversy. According to Locker, occurrences such as these confuse the public on how they should think and express their sexuality.
“I want to leave you with this idea, that in America this is how we’ve been told to behave,” she said.
“I was really impressed,” said Liz Franzek ’08, president of SHAG. “I really appreciate her touching on media images and the roots of having good sex without worrying about what the media has to say.”
According to Locker, the key is “knowing yourself, knowing others, and knowing sex.” To fulfill the first step of knowing yourself, Locker suggested masturbation, saying that with masturbation, one can explore the body’s reactions to sexual stimulation.
Also, she suggested one must become comfortable with his or her body image. The main body image insecurities are body shape and weight for women, and penis size for men. These worries are often unnecessary and counteractive.
Jodie Anderson ’08 said, “I thought it was good that she didn’t just touch on the entertaining stuff, but the deeper issues like getting comfortable with yourself.”
She emphasized that it is better for people to find partners they can communicate well with.
According to Locker, to really know sex, one should have sex. The way one expresses their sexuality is part of his or her personality, “so if it feels good, do it.”
Locker called on a volunteer to help demonstrate how to properly put on and use a condom.
She then spoke about the importance of language and communication when talking about sex with a partner.
“One of my favorite parts is having her [Locker] stress communication between partners,” said Yin Tong ’08. “There’s a lot more to sex than two people meeting, finding common attraction and getting a room.” “Someone wrote the obituary to say that sex is dead. I want to bring it back,” Locker said.