On February 11, 2009 in the Grand Ball Room of Stamp Student Union, syndicated columnist Dan Savage, spoke to our campus through the combined efforts of SEE campus entertainment, Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy (CCSL) and the Pride Alliance. The event was well attended and the Diamondback covered the story; the journalist gave a favorable review of Savage’s talk, and of the levels of participation from the audience. Though most were pleased with Mr. Savage’s self-styled “Q&A” some attendees wanted more. He was funny but there were some instances where what he said may have benefited from a deeper thoughtfulness.
One of the questions posed to Mr. Savage caught my attention. Someone asked the following: How did you become a sex expert? Mr. Savage looked into the audience, shrugged his shoulders and said: I have no idea. He more fully answered the question by going on to state that he had an article that was syndicated early in his career and one thing led to another. I found his answer unsatisfying. It suggests, amongst other things, that all one has to do to be an expert on sex, sexuality, or sexually related issues is to be able to say sexually provocative things publicly and with a straight (sic) face.
Critical and progressive sexuality scholars are located in various fields, have multiple perspectives and are commonly marginalized. Their audiences are usually highly specific scholars of the same ilk. Mr. Savage did not present himself as a sexuality scholar; he’s just a very fortunate gay white man with a highly successful writing career. He advises gays, lesbians, heterosexual men and women, trans-people and others alike on their search to find answers to sexually angst-driven questions. He has even been approached by television networks to be the “gay dad” version of the latest outbreak of family focused reality shows; he informs us that a “shit load” of money comes along with the TV crews and production staff milling about in ones home but, since both his partner of 14 years and their 10-year-old son refuses to sign up, that is one show that will not go on.
To begin his talk he tells the audience that he will not violate their young minds because he will be answering questions written by students so if they find themselves disturbed, they can blame themselves. For the most part the questions were rather pedestrian. A few were titillating, but nothing more. Most are of the “trying to be racy” variety and these usually score eruptions of nervous/embarrassed laughter from the audience. This type of laughter dominates the talk especially when Savage encourages heterosexual males to play with butt plugs. He tells them that the toy will enhance their orgasm experience and promises that it will not become a man. Funny. But, back to my initial concern: if talking about sex, sexuality, and various forms of sexual expression with a straight face is all that one needs to do to be labeled a sex expert, then it suggests that the conditions shaping, defining and regulating American sexual culture are problematic at best and rotten to the core at worst. Mr. Savage was entertaining, but somehow I imagined he would be more informative.
The community of sexuality scholars at SFSU are a group to which Mr. Savage is somewhat familiar with; I had a chance to speak to him briefly after the presentation. His popularity plus this community of academic expertise should be combined somehow. People are craving sound and reliable information about sexuality. There has to be some type of meeting between popular culture and academia. Spreading sexual literacy will require combining efforts so that the scientific study and knowledge production of sexuality are as easily received as the sage, often humorous, “straight faced” advice offered by Mr. Savage, a serious proponent of progressive sexual knowledge.
