Letter From the Editors: There’s a Point, We PromiseWhy our publication prints this issue.

If you are a parent, grandparent, professor, or even a student picking up this paper for the first time, you might be very confused right now. Perhaps you were drawn in, or disgusted by the illustration on the cover. Maybe you saw someone else laughing at an article and are curious as to what could be so funny about sex. Alternatively, you might have grabbed the issue out of pure curiosity, and balked at the obscenities in the table of contents. Whatever the reason, we are happy that you are reading it now and that we get to tell you why we print this issue, and why it is so important that we continue to do so.

From Rania—There are few moments at 12 Arrow St. that I remember more clearly than the first time I learned about the “Harvard Independent” Sex Issue. Sitting cross-legged, hands firmly pressed into our beige carpet, I listened intently as former president Eliza Kimball ’25 enlightened us about her 2022 contribution to the Sex Issue. Her piece, “Fake It ’Til You Make It,” broke down the question of why women fake orgasms, a topic she explained had been brainstormed with her mother—iconic. It was then, three fateful falls ago, that I knew the “Harvard Independent” was something I wanted to be part of and stay with for more than a while. My very own contributions to this seminal issue over the years have ranged widely. I have given credit where credit is most certainly due to the queen of “Let’s Talk about Sex” herself, Ms. Alex Cooper, and, on a more personal note, I have reflected on the first time my girlfriends and I felt comfortable talking about sex amongst ourselves.

In this vein, I wrote in the fall of 2024 about the value of watching “Sex and the City” with my girlfriends, particularly how “seeing women talking unapologetically about orgasms, threesomes, and tantric sex at brunch is important, even when it may not seem like it.” Vulnerability with the right people, after all, can catalyze genuine connection. The sentiment remains true, perhaps more than ever. Talking about sex is healthy, and it is normal. Say the awkward, uncomfortable thing out loud, and someone usually says, “Me too.” Yet there are impossibly few spaces that allow us permission to talk, learn, and understand sex, let alone how to enjoy and embrace it.

Such principles have informed our work, both here and throughout the Indy’s history.

Yes, it is completely unhinged to take our quizzes, use our branded condoms, and weigh the pros and cons of sex in a twin-XL dorm bed, but there’s a point—we promise. The conversations that we have created and prolonged throughout the history of the Indy’s Sex Issue celebrate and demystify the taboos of our daily lives: birth control, K-12 sex education, and the female orgasm. It is why we Indy—to be the driving force of these conversations that no one else can or is willing to have. 

From Mia—Quite frankly, I am in large part proud to be in the “Harvard Independent” because of our Sex Issue. It is emblematic of the free-thinking, individuality, and edge that we bring to our publication. Talking about sex is uncomfortable and still heavily stigmatized in our society. Yet that should not stop us; in fact, it should encourage us even more. This publication was founded in 1969 in response to consistently biased campus news coverage of the Vietnam War protests. We arose to be counter-cultural. 

Today, we hold ourselves to the same anti-institutional standard. The “Harvard Independent” gives Harvard students real voices. Voices to call out injustices, to expose newsworthy organizational failings, to interrogate our own cultural biases. We cover politics, technology, international affairs, power, the earth, and pop culture. That means we should have an issue devoted to perhaps the most omnipresent and deeply human topic: sex.

The “Harvard Independent” is a paper written by Harvard students, so it should be enjoyable for them to read. And despite the wide variety of backgrounds that we may come from, college campuses prevail as notorious hotbeds of sexual activity. The evidence lies in our very own Sex Issue Survey: 73% of our respondents are not virgins, and 95% of those have had sex within the past six months. So the question remains: why are there so few platforms to discuss sex when most of our respondents are sexually active and open about it?

As Rania noted, there are few spaces where students can openly discuss sex, and the “Harvard Independent” is proud to be one of them. If no one else will, we are honored to keep doing it. Within these pages, I hope you find articles that make you laugh, cry, ponder, and gasp. More importantly, I hope the words you see laid out before you encourage conversation. We live in a world that bombards us with conflicting notions about sex from all directions, 24/7, 365. In light of that, you must ask questions, do research, and engage thoughtfully with the people around you. Fight to find your own voice. And if you are bold, share it with us. We will be here next year, and every year after that.

The President and Editor-in-Chief are devastated that this is the last Sex Issue they will write for.