The News Desk Feb. 10
Welcome, once again, to the News Desk! This week, in reflection of the Daily Eastern News' print edition and in honor of Valentine's Day, we're talking sex, love and dating. Make sure to check out the podcast, too; I talked to news editor Madelyn Kidd about everything from competing in pageants to becoming an editor her first semester at Eastern.
Sex: The Taboo Subject We're Always Talking About
As most of you should know, the DEN is a college publication. While we make an effort to serve our community as much as we can, our primary audience and focus is our campus. When thinking about what to do for our Valentine's Day issue, it seemed pretty obvious that stories about sex and dating would be of most interest to our audience.
We did have some concerns, though. Would we get backlash for including more explicit content than is typically in a publication like this? Would people be unhappy that we included pictures of a few students modeling in lingerie? Fortunately, reception of the issue wasn't overtly negative, but the fact that we had to have these discussions felt strange. It's 2022; aren't college students all sex-crazed and obsessed with dating apps? I'm being dramatic, of course, but it's strange that conversations about sex are relegated to friend groups made up of people close together in age. Sex is absolutely not to be talked about in professional spaces. How are young people supposed to know what's safe and isn't? Does each generation have to fumble around and make the same mistakes?
Our editorial already said most of this and that sums up our reasoning for publishing content about sex this week. Make sure to pick up a copy of the print edition. The design looks fantastic- here's the cover.
New Ways to Write the News
One of our big focuses for this semester is trying new things; hence this newsletter, our various podcasts and our full-photo front pages. Something we're just trying out is finding new ways to create content other than interviewing individuals. Obviously, talking directly to sources will always be the basis of our journalism, but what if we can get statistics via polls and get people to open up about more taboo topics by providing anonymity? That's what we tried to do by making a Google Forms "quiz" for people to fill out. We asked what forms of protection people prefer, their opinions on casual sex, their porn watching habits and more. Some questions were fill-in-the-blank so that we could hear some fun stories. You'll have to pick up the print edition for the bulk of our findings, but here are some of the hits that didn't make it to the page.
Responses to "Tell us your favorite story from your dating or sex life."
"[Some of my classes] were online during the pandemic. They were able to be muted and also have the camera off so sometimes I would be cuddling with someone or going and having sex while class is going on for either of us and we would pause during certain points to either type questions or answers in or to listen to make sure if it’s something we need to mark down. It was kind of funny because here we are both listening to a lecture or, you know, taking turns to pause in the moment of sex to participate in a class that normally we will not be doing this. It was really the pinnacle of a 'risk a grade for the chance to get laid.'"
"One time the guy brought me to the bathroom in the dark and was holding me up on the wall while having sex and I accidentally turned the light on and we could see everything. It was funny and we just laughed it off and kept going."
"The time I lost my virginity we paused so I could go to the bathroom and when I came back my boyfriend was wearing nothing but a banana costume."
"I went home with a guy from the bar. We hadn’t really discussed how we wanted it to go. I am a gay man, so clearly we need to have different positions but that was not the case. I fell off the bed, had to sit straight up to avoid throwing up, called my friend in the middle of it to pick me up, dropped all my credit cards under his bed (and cancelled them the next day instead of asking him for them), and ended up having to walk home half dressed at 3:30 a.m."
Responses to "Show us your worst/funniest dating app interaction by sending us a screenshot!"
Catch up with this week's news:
Mask policies in Illinois have been making headlines this week. Here's what Eastern plans to do.
Our meeting coverage includes the Council on Academic Affairs' catalog decisions and Student Senate's RSO decisions.
African American History Month always features lots of events on campus such as educational games and others, often hosted by student-led organizations.
Don't forget about the podcast!
