The new “Sex in the City of God” course at the Sheil Catholic Center bears little in common with the raunchy TV show from which it gets its name. For one, Catholics don’t think there should be premarital sex in any of God’s cities. But one thing the two do share is a degree of popularity: 20 students signed up for the course, the first official classroom-style seminar Sheil has held on religion and sexuality.
In place of Carrie Bradshaw tell-alls, books like “Holy Sex! A Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-Blowing, Infallible Loving” sat in a circle on the floor of the room. As the students arrived for the 9 p.m. class, strangely eyeing the books, Chaplain Beth Knobbe smiled widely, as if she were about to start giggling.
“If you’d have told me 10 years ago, even five years ago that I’d be teaching a class on religion and sexuality, I’d have told you I’d go to the North Pole before I’d do that,” Knobbe jokes.
Sex has always been a hot topic at the center, Knobbe says, but studies suggest abstinence is on the rise among college-age students: the American College Health Association found in a study the number of sexual partners the average male student has had dropped from 2.1 in 2000 to 1.6 in 2006. In 2006, nearly half of Harvard undergraduates surveyed said they had never had intercourse. Abstinence has gained ground through the “True Love Revolution” movement spreading through the Ivies.
While it may be hard to reconcile the idea of abstinence with Northwestern’s gone-Greek hook-up culture, a Center for Orthopedic Research and Education Institute study conducted at NU in February found only 52 percent of students had engaged in sexual activity in the past year. That means about half of NU wasn’t getting any, by choice or not, for most of 2009, and that’s not even exclusive to intercourse. Cara Tuttle Bell, director of programs at the Women’s Center, says this percentage was lower than most national institutions. In her opinion, the studies suggest that by the numbers, “It isn’t like this is a party school or hook-up school by any means.”
Religion plays a part, but for some students, NU seems to be somewhat of a mood killer.
“Not being abstinent adds a level of stress,” says freshman Kevin Siegler, who is in the Sheil course. “I have enough trouble surviving my classes.” The drama that comes along with hook-up culture, “being really intimate and then dealing with that the next day, ” doesn’t suit him either.
Many attribute their ability to stay celibate at NU to the general anonymity most students have at such a large university. Whereas at a small school one person’s business can be everyone’s business, miles of NU territory make hook-ups and walks of shame less oft-sighted and less tempting.
“I certainly don’t feel any pressure to have sex, because I have several friends who also haven’t had sex,” says Tony Jarboe, a Medill senior, citing the school’s more fractured social scene. Siegel agrees. “A large majority of my friends are abstinent,” he says, then pauses. “But then again, I wouldn’t even know.”
Jennifer Haderspeck, a Medill sophomore, said one of her deterrents is digital; a frequent CollegeACB.com horror-story reader, she doesn’t feel she misses out on college hook-ups. A more secular abstainer, Haderspeck still feels NU keeps her chaste.
“Especially at NU, you have such a bright future, I don’t even want to risk getting pregnant right now,” she says. “The fear of all of that is what kept me from hooking up with a random guy at a party.”
Haderspeck, who now has a boyfriend, says he shares her views.
“We’re both virgins so we’re kind of like, we both wouldn’t know what to do anyway,” Haderspeck laughed.
But Bell of the Women’s Center says even though abstinence has perhaps been dressed in a trendier outfit, those who subscribe still bear the same risks.
Bell has noticed the cropping up of abstinence movements at universities like Harvard, and it worries her. “What’s interesting about today’s generation is many have graduated with abstinence-only sex education, so it is sort of worrisome because as a group they haven’t had safe-sex sex education.”
Knobbe’s class syllabus does allot time for covering birth control and family planning, but the other topic for this week is marriage and cohabitation.
“It is a safe choice to make,” Bell says. “I don’t think I have anything to say against that choice, but I’d ask that they are informed, have condoms, have birth control and know the risks.
Henry Petrash, a Cru. leadership team member, also recently picked up one of the modern religious sexuality books like those read in the Sheil course.
“It talks about each form of contraception, what people on each side have to say about it,” the Weinberg senior says. “I feel like it’s pretty premature for me, but hey.”
