The Harvard Independent’s Annual Sex Survey Reveals Shifts in Campus Attitudes Toward Intimacy and Identity
Released every year to demystify intimate topics, the Independent’s 2025 Sex Survey revealed a campus increasingly nuanced in its views regarding relationships, gender, and sexuality. With 545 responses across all four undergraduate years, this year’s results peel back the curtain on norms surrounding dating, sex, and self-expression. Respondent Demographics Survey engagement was balanced across all […]
Window (Un)Dressing
In the Harvard Independent’s 2021 Sex Issue, we published a photo series titled “Blow(up) Job.” The original intent of the piece was to address people’s discomfort with sex, but the artists ended up finding a deeper truth. They wrote, “We started by trying to take something taboo and push into the daylight. We ended up […]
Satire: Top Six Sex Locales on Campus
With all of sex’s health benefits, it’s only natural for students on campus to want to engage—after all, the mental toll from classes (however easy according to Claybaugh) and the physical deterioration from dining hall food needs to be compensated for somehow. However, student accommodations restrict the ability to stay healthy; from the cramped feeling […]
Veritas and Vulnerability: Sexual Wellness in the Square
Deep in Harvard Square, amidst the many coffee shops, bagel stops, and bookstores, stands “Good Vibrations,” a nationally known chain of sex-toy stores. Less than a mile apart from Good Vibrations is Hubba Hubba, another renowned BDSM-centric business. For some Harvard College students, these sexual wellness stores serve as an essential resource for exploring intimacy […]
The Making of a WAG: Sexualization in Sports
The wives and girlfriends of professional athletes in the most popular and well-paid men’s sports can gain just as much fame as their significant others, for better or for worse. This begs the question: why is it that the same phenomenon does not exist among the husbands and boyfriends of professional female athletes? The obsession […]
All Checked Out: Male and Female Personal Health Clinics in Cambridge
Following the closure of Harvard University’s Women’s Center and Office of BGLTQ Student Life this past summer, many undergraduates have been left with limited options for personal health services. Considering the importance of medical care in the areas of reproductive health, hormone imbalances, nutrition, and mental health, students must now turn to other resources to […]
Indy Sportsbook: The Odds of Getting Laid
The choice of foreplay in the form of dinner, an activity, or simply a text is a time-honored tradition of the college hookup. While the quality of each can work in your favor, the chances you can seal the deal at the end of the night are significantly different. All that being said, make your […]
Desire Meets Discourse: Harvard College’s Sex Week
Every year since 2012, Harvard eschews its Puritan roots and shines a spotlight on a topic often deemed taboo in higher education: sex. Between Nov. 2 and Nov. 9, the campus organization Sex Education by Harvard College Students puts on its annual Sex Week. The week offers informational seminars on topics such as sexually transmitted […]
He Thinks, She Thinks: the Nine Stages of a Hookup
The “hookup” embodies one of our most basic impulses. The term has been diluted over time, used to describe anything from making out to simply meeting up. This analysis, however, focuses on the traditional interpretation: sex. While we have evolved from our cave-roaming days, the custom persists. Frat parties have replaced balls, flowers have replaced […]
The Art of Sexting
There are few things I appreciate more in life than a well-crafted sext. I have always, and will always, be a firm believer in the positive power of sexting. Truly good sexting requires a level of intimacy and understanding of your partner that a purely physical hookup often does not. To arouse someone through a […]
Sex and Salary Transparency
There are a few subjects that you just don’t bring up at the dinner table; sex and salary are at the top of the list. Not exactly what you want to unpack with your grandparents over pie. Yet it isn’t just among relatives that people hold back on discussing these “taboo” topics. Sex and salary […]
Make Harvard Fuck Again
As Harvard students, we are constantly under the pressure of rigorous coursework, demanding extracurriculars, and the struggle to succeed at the high level that this institution expects. Our schedules are busy at best and all-consuming at worst. The sheer effort it takes to manage it all leads many of us to deal with near-constant stress, […]
Thoughts from New Quincy: Presence, Lost
Americans are having less sex than at any point in the modern era. The share of U.S. adults ages 18-64 who report having sex weekly has fallen from 55% in 1990 to 37% in 2024. Among young adults, the shift is sharper: the share of 18-29-year-olds who reported no sex in the past year doubled […]
God Doesn’t Care If You’re Gay, and Neither Should the Law
On Oct. 24, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously voted to amend the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct to allow judges in the state to refuse same-sex marriage ceremonies, if doing so would be contrary to their “sincerely held religious beliefs.” To be clear, judges are not required to perform marriages, but are now legally allowed […]
It’s Time to Deconsumerize Sex
Buying condoms for the first time was a confusing experience. I was at DM-drogerie markt, the European analog of CVS, surrounded by a sea of products I could neither interpret nor distinguish from each other. At the time, I was a student at an international boarding school in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and my Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian skills […]
Sex Ed as an Asian in the South
Education has been an integral part of human history, allowing each generation to develop beyond what is currently known. Sciences build upon what is already understood to discover the next innovation. History hopes to avoid previous mistakes. English courses foster an appreciation for the stories of different cultures. But one type of education is dedicated […]
ONE (ASS) TAP AWAY
1. INT. ADAMS HOUSE LAUNDRY ROOM – NIGHT The newly renovated Adams House laundry room. It sits empty in all its fluorescent, cluttered beauty. We are well into the witching hour. SEXY FUTURE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER enters the laundry room and begins to switch her laundry from the washer to the dryer. Shortly after, MALE […]
Willy Wank-a and the Rose Toy Factory
When the news first broke out, women all over the world stopped in disbelief. For the very first time, Willy Wank-a was opening the gates to his world-famous Rose Toy factory. 30 years after the creation of the life-changing sex toy, Rose Toy fanatics would now be able to see the production process and meet […]
Kinks ‘n’ Houses
Thanks to the Indy sex survey, we all know which houses fuck the most. But do we know how they fuck? I’ve taken it upon myself to determine what kink revs the engine for each house based on vibes, what they’re known for, and my own personal experiences. Enjoy! River Central Smack dab in the […]
Timing is Everything: The Best (and Worst) Times to Have Sex
There are 24 hours in a day and, sadly, you can’t spend all of them fucking. So, to determine what times of day are optimal for trips to Pound Town, I’ve created a ranking based on energy levels, convenience, and, most importantly, vibes. Sometimes, everything just falls into place and a certain moment just feels […]
