On the list of what most university students ask sex guru Sue Johanson about, anal is in fourth place.
“Kids want to know if it’s safe, if it hurts,” said grandma and popular Canadian host of the talk show Talk Sex with Sue, broadcast in Canada on the W Network, before her presentation at University College’s Dining Hall Thursday night.
“It’s high-risk beaviour, both for sexually transmitted infections and because the thin tissue of the rectum is easy to damage during sex,” she said. “I get scared that girls are being pressured into it.”
Questions about back-door love come in behind the g-spot, penis size, and orgasms for most kids. But they are arguably more important for U of T’s gay male community.
Sue’s emphasis on distinguishing anal as “high-risk,” along with the fact that she concentrates almost completely on sex between men and women in the lecture tours she does around Canadian campuses in September, is something that has gotten her labeled “hetero-centric” by queer-positive UC types lately.
“It wasn’t the only reason, but it was a factor in our decision not to have her speak during Frosh Week this year,” said Danny Auron, co-chair of UC’s orientation committee. “The Literary and Athletic Society (UC’s student council) made their own decision to have her talk here.”
He explained that her attitude isn’t anti-gay, but neither is it in the spirit of positive space that UC prides itself on.
“You can have healthy anal sex if it’s in a committed relationship and your partner pays attention to what you’re saying,” said Sue.
“U of T is the only place that’s called me ‘heterosexist,’ probably because you have a bigger out gay population [than other institutions]. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
If any of the kids who packed the Dining Hall to hear Sue explain clitorises, masturbation, and safer sex Thursday were offended, they didn’t show it. She’ll be back to educate us all next year, if their grins were any indication.
