What Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter Reveals About Harvard’s History
Today, the scarlet “A” is easily recognized as the iconic literary symbol linked to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel “The Scarlet Letter.” For a younger generation, it might be the 2010 film “Easy A,” starring Emma Stone. In colonial Massachusetts, though, it carried a far more sinister meaning. In 1694, under the Massachusetts law titled “An […]
What Are We?
Situationship? The situation is that they don’t want you. Every college student loves a good situationship: flirty, fun, and noncommittal. Unfortunately, they’re also a fast track to mixed signals, 2 a.m. overthinking, and heartbreak over someone you were never technically with. Situationships, or romantic and sexual relationships without clear labels or definitions, are increasingly popular […]
Enough Sex Talk, Let’s Get Serious
I find that when we talk about sex, especially at college, we focus solely on the physical. What you did, how long it lasted, how many times you did it, and whether your partner, or partners, if you are feeling especially freaky, was up to the task. It feels like a sport. There are all […]
Weekly Sports Preview: November 5–12
Playoff season is finally here! This week, Harvard’s fall teams begin their postseason games. Meanwhile, other sports are facing historic rivals, wrapping up their regular season, or just making their debuts. Football (6–1) This Saturday is football’s final home game of the season at Harvard Stadium. At 1 p.m., they’ll kick off against Columbia. After […]
Rekindling an Old Flame
It is a Saturday night. You and your girlfriend just broke up. Your best friend’s birthday party is in half an hour, and you have decided some special supplements are in order. The pregame hit you hard, so you don’t have the capacity to be creative about who you ask. You fumble for your phone […]
Keeping Score: The Sport of One’s Body Count
“What’s your body count?” It is a question that seems to circulate casually (and crassly) among modern generations. Its meaning: “How many different people have you had sex with?” The question implies a transactional, impersonal maneuvering through sex, reducing a partner to the noun of a “body.” More importantly, it raises the question: why does […]
Kissing, by the Numbers
*This chronology is organized by the first time I kissed each person. One. My first kiss was rushed, wet, and sloppy. I’d met my paramour in the brightly lit bathroom on the ground floor of our middle school English complex; as class continued overhead, we indulged in a covert embrace. I hated the kiss, but […]
Let the Games Begin (Again and Again)
Every two years, the world’s greatest athletes gather to test the limits of the human body. These people have spent years preparing for the most competitive stage. Some events are so popular that even non-sports connoisseurs can recognize them. Others are so obscure that it seems like only a handful of athletes actually know the […]
The Lost Practice of Meeting Someone Organically
I have never once downloaded a dating app. Shocking, right? Nowadays, it seems like almost everyone has some sort of online dating platform installed on their phones; the ability to “make a match” just clicks away. Online dating platforms have exploded in popularity in recent years. Three in 10 U.S. adults report having used a […]
The “Harvard Independent’s” 2026 Sex Survey Reveals Frequent Sexual Activity Among Harvard College Students
The “Harvard Independent’s” annual Sex Survey offers a look at the relationships, preferences, and private lives of Harvard undergraduates. The 2026 survey received 407 submissions, with respondents sharing everything from their relationship statuses to their preferred hookup soundtracks. Respondent Demographics First-years made up the largest share of respondents: 39.6% were in the Class of 2030, […]
The Unsexy Panopticon
Our jaded elders like to describe Gen Z with a list of “don’ts”: Gen Zers don’t drink. Gen Zers don’t leave the house. Gen Zers don’t know how to work. Gen Zers don’t know how to socialize properly. Gen Zers don’t have sex. All of these don’ts, whether you view them as good or bad, […]
Messy Misdiagnoses and Medical Misogyny
On Oct. 1, “Science Magazine” published a special issue on women’s health for the first time in the publication’s history. Beyond studies in sex-differentiated reproductive health and gynecology, the journal detailed fundamental biological discrepancies, denoting a gap in women’s health-specific research. Almost every organ functions differently in the female body than in the male, yet […]
Who Are We Having Sex For?
In college culture today, “hooking up” involves more than simply having sex. Rather, sex has become equated with performance, and friends share details as a way to show off their desirability and maintain social capital. College is supposed to be the place where people find their identities and explore their sexuality, but this exploration rarely […]
Do You Have A Tampon?
We all bleed every month. Well, not everyone, but over 2 billion people menstruate worldwide each month, including women, adolescent girls, and transgender and non-binary individuals. An estimated 500 million of the 800 million people who menstruate on any given day experience period poverty, and in the United States, nearly one in four face the […]
Sex Ed at Four? The Dutch Say Ja
This past summer, I visited Amsterdam. Stepping off the Eurostar, I was met by swarms of bikers and numerous incredibly stylish, tall pedestrians. I immediately felt the city’s vibrancy—held together by a culture of openness and a little bit of weed. One of my favorite moments from the trip was a bike tour. My guide, […]
Sex in Cyberspace
Gen Z is, apparently, in the midst of a sex recession. Though they have sex later and less frequently than previous generations, they are not necessarily any less horny. Instead, the new statistics may reflect a shift in Gen Z’s sexual expression, as with many other facets of modern life, into the digital sphere. The […]
Dirty Language
For all the trouble we give Dick, Richard is a rather common name. In fact, the nickname ‘Dick’ predates the anatomical implication by at least three centuries. In the time between these interpretations, ‘dick’ took on the meaning ‘guy,’ a reasonable segue to its current meaning, which men are often associated with. Fascinatingly, ‘dick’ also […]
The Hypocrisy of Sex in Politics
Why have men’s’ political careers remained seemingly indestructible in the face of sexual assault allegations while women face the brunt of repercussions? One-third of President Donald Trump’s original cabinet members have faced claims of sexual assault. The list includes currently employed members, like Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, who was accused of […]
Something “Wicker” This Way Cums
“I heard that he’s strong as a tree and just as hard.” This week I had the pleasure of watching the recently released film “Wicker,” starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård. The movie adapts Ursula Wills’s 14-page 2008 short story, “The Wicker Husband.” The plot follows a lonely fisherwoman living in a small village who […]
In Defense of Casual Sex
There is an inherent connection that comes with having sex with someone. Sex, in any context, is a vulnerable experience that asks participants to bare themselves, both physically and emotionally, to another person. Sex is arguably difficult, as it demands a high level of security and self-confidence to achieve the level of trust necessary to […]
Books Made Me Gay
Ever since I became an avid media consumer in high school, I wanted to find the Aldo to my Regan from Olivie Blake’s novel, “Alone With You in the Ether.” The Ted to my Robin from the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”; the Seb to my Mia from the movie “La La Land.” Whether […]
On the Same Ship With Your Situationship
Imagine you’re seeing someone casually. You’re talking, but haven’t put a label on what you are yet. Now imagine that you see them multiple times a week to work on problem sets or for club meetings. If being in a situationship is not perplexing enough, try having one in a shared space (or don’t, actually). […]
Klub Kinks
We’re a kinky campus. How kinky, you might ask? Well, one Indy Sex Survey respondent detailed a personal sexual fantasy he hopes will come to fruition on campus: “Being kicked in the balls by my girlfriend and her friends, then teased. And worshipping them.” Is this representative of Harvard students as a whole? We may […]
Back to Basics: Sex Positions, Ranked
There are many ways to get down and dirty, but a few staples always make the cut. But not all positions are created equal. The real question is: what are the best basics to have on standby? Missionary: #1 Reliably good, easy to execute, and maximum contact. Missionary is the classic for a reason. Some […]
First Year First Times
Freshman fall is full of firsts: first roommates, first B grades, first relationships, and first times. For your eyes only, we hunted through Annenberg, the Yard, and, of course, MIT’s frats to uncover some of the most interesting first-kiss and first-time stories we could find, and put them together for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! Playhouse […]
The Harvard Purity Test
This is totally unrelated to any other purity test that might have been named after a certain university in Houston, Texas. However, if it were, this test is inspired by a 1924 icebreaker for incoming students during orientation week, which later became a 100-question list in the 1980s. From debatable academic decisions to questionable romantic […]