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In the movies, college students are portrayed as neurotic nymphomaniacs, incapable of studying anything other than the hottie across the hallway. Obsessed with getting it on, university coeds are depicted as sexual schemers, prepared to violate any ethical norm to capture their next sexual conquest.
While there's some truth to the idea that college campuses are havens for hookups, the trend seems to be going the other way. Despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary (such as the proliferation of sex columns in student newspapers), statistics show that college students are having less sex today than in previous years.
According to a study performed by the American College Health Association, college students overestimated by 300 percent the number of partners their classmates had slept with during prior academic terms. The study also determined that male promiscuity had dropped by almost 25 percent, with the average college stud inviting 1.6 partners into his bed in 2006 (down from 2.1 in 2000).
Even more striking, the number of virginal freshmen rose from 39 percent in 2001 to nearly 50 percent in 2006, with 31 percent of undergraduate women maintaining their abstinence into their senior year. That's impressive, given the pressure placed upon women to flaunt their skivvies at an early age.
What's behind the drop in booty calls? Why are college kids spending less time snuggling between the sheets? Are the perils of sexually transmitted infections finally starting to seep in? Are we in the middle of a monogamy epidemic?
I'm no sexpert, but I doubt that 20-somethings are experiencing recommittal en masse. And I'd be surprised if safe-sex campaigns are reaching a wider audience than before. Since 1998, the federal government has spent more than $1.3 billion promoting abstinence, after all, and most high schools have incorporated some form of sex education into their curricula.
Instead, students are spending less time fooling around because they simply don't have the time. The rising cost of college tuition has forced many students to find employment, leaving precious little time for foreplay. Furthermore, extra work translates into higher levels of exhaustion, which can easily ruin the mood.
Employers aren't the only cause of descending fecundity, however, and shouldn't bear the brunt of students' sexual frustration. On the contrary, that anger should be hoisted upon the colleges themselves, whose efforts to curb grade inflation have led to higher standards, additional homework and more time spent at the library doing research.
In fact, recent studies have demonstrated a correlation between promiscuity and poor academic performance. Though such studies should always be taken with a dollop of whipped cream, a cursory interpretation of the results reveals that dedication to excellence in the classroom requires sacrifices in the bedroom. Put simply: As test scores go up, erections go down.
Still, students shouldn't deny their carnal compulsions. Such urges are natural; suppressing them is inhuman. What's more, a healthy sex life reduces stress, which can be helpful during midterms. So, if you haven't already, put a pillow behind the bed frame, wrap your knuckles around the headboard and start swiveling your worries away.
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