Daily Campus, University of Connecticut

In the blog below I’ll explore a variety of issues related to intimacy, college life, and sexuality.   You’ll also notice to the right of the banner above is a feature called SEXBYTE.  Here I’ll give you a little snippet of actual published research.   I also tweet and if you’re interested you can find me on Twitter (DrJanellCarroll).  If you want to check out some of my favorite photos, check out the FlickR link below.

Dr. Janell Carroll

Thanks to Professor Greg Harris for inviting me to speak to his psychology class at Polk State College.  It was a fun day and I really enjoyed meeting the students and talking about culture and sexuality. It’s so interesting to talk with students from around the country and find out what they are interested in and what their experiences are.  I’m thrilled they love using my textbook, Sexuality Now.  I even got to sign a couple copies!!

Thanks for the invitation.   Good luck with finals everyone!

The World Health Organization recently announced that a new “super bug” strain of gonorrhea is growing resistant to treatment with antibiotics and could soon become untreatable. Gonorrhea is the second most common sexually transmitted infection today, just behind chlamydia.  While years ago a gonorrhea infection was easily treated with penicillin, the bacteria’s adaptability has made it resistant to many types of antibiotics. Mutations that enable the bacteria to survive antibiotic treatments then quickly spread their genes, making treatments more difficult. Experts claim that an overuse of antibiotics, as well as the use of the wrong antibiotics has led to the development of the super bug.

Again, the answer is here is sex education.  We need to educate people about the risks of sexually transmitted infections and help them understand how to protect themselves.  In addition to this, we need a positive approach to sexuality that includes the discussion of sexual pleasure, needs, and desires.  Without this, individuals will be unable to communicate about sex and rates of sexually transmitted infections will continue to increase.

Given the enormous pressure to conform to the Vatican’s teachings, I applaud Sister Margaret Farley for thinking outside the box and for having enough strength in her convictions to share them publicly.  I think it is time for organized religion to take a good look at the importance of sexuality and began talking about it. It can only make the world a better place.

For more information on this story, CLICK HERE

For more information about this new textbook CLICK HERE

This spring, Hannah Dowling, an independent filmmaker came to the University of Hartford to film my human sexuality class.  She is producing a documentary about the impact of sexuality education on young women, addressing what we teach young women, what we should be teaching them, and how sexuality education received during the middle and high-school years can affect women later in life.  It was interesting to see what students had to say about female sexuality and hear their memories of their own sex education (or lack thereof).

I talked about the importance of talking to young girls about sexuality, including issues related to sexual pleasure.  My daughter, Reagan, also discussed her thoughts about what high school aged girls think about sexuality. It’s no secret that most standard health education classes in schools discuss male ejaculation (and male orgasm), but out leave female sexual pleasure and orgasm. As a result, many female college students don’t know about the clitoris or about how to experience sexual pleasure.

I am very excited to see Hannah’s final product.  I will review it here as soon as it is available.  In the meantime, let’s talk to girls about sexuality in its entirety.  Sexual pleasure has a place in these conversations.

Friedler et al., 2011

I’ve also been busying working on a series of documentaries about sexuality.  This has also been really exciting because throughout the process I’ve been able to meet some really cool and interesting people, such as Kiki (who is in the photo to the left).  Kiki taught me everything about KINK and really helped me learn.  I am so thankful to her for her time and her sharing of her ideas and experiences.  In fact, over the next few days I’ll be sharing more photos of interesting people I’ve met through my year-long journey to learn more about sex.  Come back soon!

Dr. JC