Spring Break
The Latest H-Bomb:
Harvard University approves Student-Run Sex Magazine
Jaya Tandon (NE), Co-Editor, News and Campus Affairs
Issue date: 2/17/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The Committee on College Life (CCL) at Harvard University has voted to approve the H-Bomb, a magazine that will be run by students and which will feature fiction, sex advice, art and also, nude photographs of Harvard undergraduate students. Fourteen members of the CCL approved the H-Bomb as an official Harvard publication. Two members abstained.
The CCL took this decision after inspecting a similar magazine, Squirm, which the H-Bomb is going to be modeled after. Squirm is a student-run erotic magazine at Vassar College and is described on Vassar's official Web site as "an intelligent and provocative exploration of sex and sexual pleasure."
Katharina C. Baldegg '06 and Camilla A. Hrdy '05, the two Harvard University students who proposed the magazine, selected "H-Bomb" as the title because the term has a special meaning for the students at Harvard University. The rest of the world may think that the term "H-Bomb" refers to the Hydrogen Bomb but the average John studying at Harvard knows that it actually describes the positive effect that his Harvard credentials tend to have on people, especially those of the opposite sex.
According to the Crimson, Harvard University's 121 year old newspaper, Professor of Psychology Marc D. Hauser, who teaches Science B-29, "Evolution of Human Nature," nicknamed "Sex" by students, will serve as the Faculty adviser for the H-Bomb.
The decision by the CCL is, to say the least, controversial. The issue at hand is whether the approval of this magazine is a triumph for free speech or is it a disturbing and increasing trend towards accepting porn in everyday life. The Harbus presents the matter in the words of the protagonists themselves and also details some of the diverse reactions:
Associate Dean Judith H. Kidd, a CCL member:
As quoted in cnn.com: "We are aware of the fact that some segments of the population would find the contents distasteful. However, the committee considered this to be an issue of freedom of speech."
The CCL took this decision after inspecting a similar magazine, Squirm, which the H-Bomb is going to be modeled after. Squirm is a student-run erotic magazine at Vassar College and is described on Vassar's official Web site as "an intelligent and provocative exploration of sex and sexual pleasure."
Katharina C. Baldegg '06 and Camilla A. Hrdy '05, the two Harvard University students who proposed the magazine, selected "H-Bomb" as the title because the term has a special meaning for the students at Harvard University. The rest of the world may think that the term "H-Bomb" refers to the Hydrogen Bomb but the average John studying at Harvard knows that it actually describes the positive effect that his Harvard credentials tend to have on people, especially those of the opposite sex.
According to the Crimson, Harvard University's 121 year old newspaper, Professor of Psychology Marc D. Hauser, who teaches Science B-29, "Evolution of Human Nature," nicknamed "Sex" by students, will serve as the Faculty adviser for the H-Bomb.
The decision by the CCL is, to say the least, controversial. The issue at hand is whether the approval of this magazine is a triumph for free speech or is it a disturbing and increasing trend towards accepting porn in everyday life. The Harbus presents the matter in the words of the protagonists themselves and also details some of the diverse reactions:
Associate Dean Judith H. Kidd, a CCL member:
As quoted in cnn.com: "We are aware of the fact that some segments of the population would find the contents distasteful. However, the committee considered this to be an issue of freedom of speech."
