Writer of a newspaper or magazine column about sex
A sex columnist is a writer of a newspaper or magazine column about sex. Sex advice columns may take the form of essays or, more frequently, answers to questions posed by readers. Sex advice columns can usually be found in alt weekly newspapers, women's magazines, health or fitness magazines, and student newspapers. While some are written by sexologists, many are penned by people lacking credentials in human sexuality and relationships, yet willing to divulge their opinions or personal bedroom antics.
The television series Sex and the City protagonist Carrie Bradshaw was a sex columnist, which author Candace Bushnell modeled after herself in her original non-fiction book based on a column of the same name. The show, which first aired in 1998, is credited with the increase of sex columnists found in college campus newspapers and blogs,[1] such as at Ivy League colleges and many other schools.[2] One such columnist, Meghan Bainum,[3] at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, placed in the 42nd annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program (2001–2002) for her column.[4]
Anka Radakovich was the first of a new breed of sex columnists for whom "every detail of the writer's psyche is splayed across the page ... confessional journalism at its most intimate". Radakovich had written for the old Details magazine when it was a chronicle of downtown fashion and night life. After James Truman became editor-in-chief and transformed Details into a men's magazine, he offered Radakovich a column in September 1990. She became the first modern-day magazine sex columnist working for a mainstream men's publication.[5]
The popularity of sex columns waned after the 2000s, but they remain popular at some newspapers, such as The Student Life at the Claremont Colleges.[6]
Twanna A. Hines, former Blog-A-Log sex and relationships columnist for Nerve
Anka Radakovich, current British GQ sex columnist and former Details magazine sex columnist from 1990 to 1999.
Margaret Sanger, author of "What Every Mother Should Know" (1911–12) and "What Every Girl Should Know" (1912–13) for the socialist magazine New York Call, later creator of The Woman Rebel.
Patterson, Randall, "Students of Virginity", New York Times Magazine, March 30, 2008. Refers to Lena Chen's Harvard blog. "Perhaps no one at Harvard represents the hookup culture better than Lena Chen, a student sex blogger ... Chen's viewpoint, as she explained it to me, was not complicated. 'For me, being a strong woman means not being ashamed that I like to have sex,' she said. And 'to say that I have to care about every person I have sex with is an unreasonable expectation. It feels good! It feels good!'"
^Eblen, Tom, "KU journalism students place in national writing competition", KU School of Journalism News, University Relations Office, University of Kansas, December 4, 2001. "Bainum's article Different Strokes for Different Folks appeared in the Nov. 30, 2000, issue of the University Daily Kansan. She discussed the causes of sexual attraction and fetishes and society's conception of sex."
Reimold, Daniel, Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism, Rutgers University Press, September 2010. ISBN978-0-8135-4805-0
Sohn, Amy, "The Vagina Dialogues: Sex columnists compare notes", New York magazine, November 12, 2005
Tartakovsky, Joseph, "Never Mind Tolstoy: 'This is kind of our protest to say that we're in charge of our sexuality,' says one campus sex columnist.", The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2010.
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