I came to this job under the basic assumption that most of us are having sex.
Sure, I've had friends who have remained virgins through college, but in general, I always knew a lot more people who were getting it on than those who weren't.
Then I read an article in last week's Newsweek and had one of those Oprah "A-ha!" moments.
The article, which focused mostly on upper-crust institutions, said while students are more willing to talk about sex than ever before, they're not doing it as regularly as they are blogging about it.
And that's when I realized I have had a lot more friends tell me lately about their self-imposed sexual strikes.
Indeed, the majority of my buds have openly stated their desire to abstain from emotionless and in their words, "empty," sexual encounters to focus their pursuit of meaningful relationships.
The numbers tend to agree.
The most recent American College Health Association survey found that in the last year, the average female had only 1.2 to men's 1.6 sex partners. Even the amount of sex each gender was perceived to have was substantially higher - 3.3 for females to 3.1 for men.
Are we fast becoming prudes?
Hardly. I doubt it's a coincidence that I have also noticed an increase in the amount of girlfriends asking me to go shopping for sex toys with them.
See, here's where Newsweek got it wrong. College students are having more frank discussions about sex and are interested in exploring their sexuality. But those discussions include not just the dirty details of each deed.
They are filled with concerns over sexually transmitted diseases, in response to the lack of proper information in primary school sex education classes, and take into account the emotional consequences of sexual activity.
Perhaps the numbers tell a bigger story - all the hullabaloo bestowed upon us, the iPod generation, about our relaxed morals and steadfast defense of our beloved hookups, is really baby-boom-bred baloney.
We are passionate when it counts, not just in the bedroom, but also about the presidential election, tasteless murals on campus and the like.
And really, what's sexier than that?
Being mature about one's sexuality is the most integral part of being sexually active, and I think these numbers and the trends I've noticed here all point to the fact that as young adults, we are not only mature but also understanding.
