Karen Owen List: What Does Mock Duke Thesis Say about Female Sexuality?

(istockphoto)

(CBS) What do young women today really think about sex? It's a question guys might not want to hear answered, if a "senior thesis" by recent college grad Karen Owen is any indication.

The mock thesis, subtitled "Excelling in the Realm of Horizontal Academics," features lots of stuffy academic language - but it's actually a brutally frank kiss-and-tell about the physical attributes and sexual prowess of 13 male students Owen claims to have hooked up with.

The PowerPoint presentation includes a bar chart showing the overall rankings of her sexual conquests and photos of the men in question - many from the Duke lacrosse team. Points were awarded on the basis of physical attractiveness, sexual skills and creativity, aggressiveness, humor, and athletic ability.

Oh yes, and on "the length and girth of the subjects' hardware."

The paper is now a viral sensation online. What do sex therapists make of it?

"Men have engaged in this sort of behavior for time immemorial," says Dr. Ian Kerner, the author of "She Comes First." Now here is a woman who feels empowered to rate and rank men in much the same way. It's giving men a dose of their own medicine."

Kerner says men have been telling tales of their exploits since the dawn of time. But is turnabout fair play?

Kerner doesn't think so. He says Owen's "f*** list" reflects the coarsening of sexual mores among young people, as well as the perils of social media.

Owen reportedly intended the paper to be seen only by friends and has since said she is deeply sorry.

"I regret it with all my heart," she told Jezebel.com, "I would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned on that."

That point seems especially pertinent, given the the recent apparent suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, whose roommate had posted a video of him making out with a man.

"I would say it is a wake-up call for men and women to treat each other respectfully," he says.

Then again, says Kerner, Owen deserves some credit for including emotional and intellectual attributes in her ranking system. A similar ranking system developed by a man might not include humor or intelligence, he says.

"It would start with breast and butt and maybe eyes," says Kerner, and go straight downhill from there.

Can't we all just get along?

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[gaiaschild-2009]

Likely we all know, don't we, that anyone's sexuality expresses in harmony with everything else about the individual because we express in ways that fit our energetic field, our value systems, and our relationship with circumstances in life. Evidently, we interact a great deal with our whole web, the local and even global environments. This woman's approach, at 22, doesn't say anything about mine at 22 or 40 or 50 or 60 or the rest is none of your business . . . our values also reflect our energy field, and perhaps our energy field reflects our fundamental relationship with our Self and our deepest beliefs about life. This young woman doesn't even say anything about Duke University. Just about herself.

[Highland55]

When does her new talk show air?

[1984Amber]

LOL-she was having sex with the men in the study-wasn't she? Wouldn't that mean they were also promiscuous? I read the study in question and I didn't see where any of the men insisting she go steady with them before they would "sleep" with her.

[saquonnaw]

I am disgusted that the female correspondent that was just on the show just said that it is empowering that young women can now feel more comfortable talking about their sexual experiences just like guys have done for years in college and beyond. Noooo!!! That is not a good thing. The very fact that she was having so much premarital sex and essentially hoeing herself out is not something to be applauded. I do not feel bad for her, she obviously thought it was a joke which is why she took so much time to prepare a thesis and email it to her friends. She was not being "agressive" she was sinning and obviously with no remorse. The male correspondent (I wish I could remember his name) was on spot and I'm so glad he was there to insert some wisdom into this story. I hope this incident makes this young woman get some help and seek the Lord.

[voxpopulus]

Just confirms what I've always thought about the kind of women who hook up with jocks.

[FMWW]

What's the big deal just because a **** documents her encounters? ****, ****,****!!!!

[watkinsjr2000]

If this young woman chooses to behave like a prostitute, she should at least start charging for her services like one.I bet her parents are so proud of their little girl's new-found notoriety.

[calwest2]

Almost all of her descriptions are about the ?hotness? of the settings and the attributes of the young men. She completely abandons the quality of her physical pleasure. Is this really not a goal of her ?hook-ups??

If so, this is quite different from my generation, where the standard-of-measure for sex (gourmet sex!) was/is the female orgasm. Richard Prior had a bit about a guy feeling ?macho? only when she falls asleep immediately following sex (everything else is faked). What we have with Miss Owen is a more modern phenomenon. Tom Wolfe described this as girls competing with other girls, using the currency of popular boys.

[documemts]

This just means that guys can say what they like or don't like. Females just as bad --no worse! Guys don't expect to receive academic grades on screwing around.

[noloyalisti]

Don't forget to report offensive comments like the one that keeps getting posted for an advertisement for a job board.