A sex columnist is a writer of a newspaper or magazine column about sex. Sex advice columns may take the form of essays or, more frequently, answers to questions posed by readers. Sex advice columns can usually be found in alt weekly newspapers,

women's magazine This is a list of women's magazines from around the world. These are magazines that have been published primarily for a readership of woman, women. Currently published *''10 Magazine (UK), 10 Magazine'' (UK – distributed worldwide) *''Al Jam ...

s, health or fitness magazines, and

student newspapers A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repo ...

. While some are written by

sexologists Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

, many are penned by people lacking credentials in human sexuality and relationships, yet willing to divulge their opinions or personal bedroom antics. The television series ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'' protagonist

Carrie Bradshaw Caroline Marie "Carrie" Bradshaw is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO media franchise ''Sex and the City'', portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker. In the television series and subsequent films, Carrie is a New York City-based newspa ...

was a sex columnist, which author

Candace Bushnell Candace Bushnell (born December 1, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and television producer. She wrote a column for ''The New York Observer'' (1994–96) that was adapted into the bestselling ''Sex and the City'' anthology. The book was ...

modeled after herself in her original non-fiction book based on a column of the same name. The show, which first aired in 1998, is credited with the increase of sex columnists found in college campus newspapers and blogs, such as at

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

colleges and many other schools. One such columnist, Meghan Bainum, at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, Lawrence, placed in the 42nd annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program (2001–2002) for her column. Anka Radakovich was the first of a new breed of sex columnists for whom "every detail of the writer's psyche is splayed across the page ... confessional journalism at its most intimate". Radakovich had written for the old '' Details'' magazine when it was a chronicle of downtown fashion and night life. After James Truman became editor-in-chief and transformed ''Details'' into a men's magazine, he offered Radakovich a column in September 1990. She became the first modern-day magazine sex columnist working for a mainstream men's publication.Walker, Nick
"Women and Men: All mouth and no trousers"
''The Independent'', October 1, 1995. The popularity of sex columns waned after the 2000s, but they remain popular at some newspapers, such as ''

The Student Life ''The Student Life'' (abbreviated ''TSL'') is a student newspaper covering the Claremont Colleges (7Cs, or 5Cs when referring only to the undergraduate colleges), a consortium of liberal arts colleges in Claremont, California. It is published ...

'' at the

Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private university, private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)� ...

Notable sex columnists

* Millicent Binks writes the sex column "Up All Night" for the London ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' * Violet Blue, "Open Source Sex" columnist for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' *

, former "Sex and the City" columnist for ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...

'' * Rachel Kramer Bussel, formerly "Lusty Lady" for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', also writes for '' Penthouse'' and ''Penthouse Variations'' *

Patrick Califia Patrick Califia (born 1954), formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice, is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transit ...

, at that time a lesbian with birth name of Pat Califia, for the former

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

magazine ''

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

''. *

Tracey Cox Tracey Jane Cox (born November 1, 1961) is an English non-fiction author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The ...

, author of sex books, columnist for Australian ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'',

iVillage iVillage, Inc. was a mass media company that operated the ”most popular female-oriented sites” on the internet in the 1990s. In addition to ivillage.com, the company operated iVillage UK, Astrology.com, GardenWeb, and the NBC Digital Health ...

, and other media displays including television shows * Anna David, former sex and relationship column for ''Razor'' * Stacey Grenrock-Woods, current sex columnist for ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' * Debby Herbenick, PhD, author, and host of "Kinsey Confidential" for

Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction (often shortened to The Kinsey Institute) is a research institute at Indiana University. Established in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1947 as a nonprofit, the institute merged with In ...

; "Sex Professor" columnist for ''Men's Health'' magazine; "Ask the Sex Doc" columnist for NUVO (Indiana); former "In & Out" columnist for ''Time Out Chicago'' magazine; former "Loveville" columnist for the Louisville ''

Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

'' ''

Velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...

''. * Twanna A. Hines, former ''Blog-A-Log'' sex and relationships columnist for ''Nerve'' * Anka Radakovich, current ''British GQ'' sex columnist and former '' Details'' magazine sex columnist from 1990 to 1999. *

Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

, author of "What Every Mother Should Know" (1911–12) and "What Every Girl Should Know" (1912–13) for the socialist magazine ''

New York Call The ''New York Call'' was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The ''Call'' was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, following the ''Chicago Daily S ...

'', later creator of ''The Woman Rebel''. *

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBTQ community activist. He writes Savage Love, an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husband, ...

, creator of the syndicated sex column ''

Savage Love Savage Love is a syndicated sex-advice column by Dan Savage. The column appears weekly in several dozen newspapers, mainly free newspapers in the US and Canada, but also newspapers in Europe and Asia. It started in 1991 with the first issue of t ...

'' * Amy Sohn, former sex columnist for ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' * Kate Taylor (British writer), ''GQ'' magazine * Helen Gurley, author of the ' sex and the single girl' column in

Cosmopolitan Magazine ''Cosmopolitan'' (stylized in all caps) is an American quarterly fashion and entertainment magazine for women, first published based in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, sinc ...

Tristan Taormino Tristan Taormino (born May 9, 1971) is an American feminist author, sex educator, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book ''Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships,'' which is often recomm ...

, former "Pucker Up" syndicated columnist for ''

'' *

Ruth Westheimer Karola Ruth Westheimer (née Siegel; June 4, 1928 – July 12, 2024), better known as Dr. Ruth, was a German and American sex therapist and talk show host. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish family. As the Nazis came to power, her paren ...

, "Ask Dr. Ruth" columnist since the 1980s * Suzi Godson, sex and relationships columnist for

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

since Selected university newspaper columnists, past and present * Lena Chen, ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

'' and ''Sex and the Ivy: The Bleeding Heart Nympho's Guide To Harvard Life'', Harvard University * Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright, "Sexpert Tells All," ''

Washington Square News ''Washington Square News (WSN)'' is the weekly student newspaper of New York University (NYU). It has a circulation of 10,000 and an estimated 55,000 online readers. It is published in print on Monday, in addition to online publication Tuesday th ...

'',

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

References

Notes Bibliography * Radakovich, Anka ''The Wild Girls Club : tales from below the belt'', 1st ed. New York : Crown, 1994. * Reimold, Daniel, ''Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism'', Rutgers University Press, September 2010. * Sohn, Amy, "The Vagina Dialogues: Sex columnists compare notes", ''

'' magazine, November 12, 2005 * Tartakovsky, Joseph, "Never Mind Tolstoy: 'This is kind of our protest to say that we're in charge of our sexuality,' says one campus sex columnist.", ''The Wall Street Journal'', August 13, 2010. * Wolfe, Tom '' I Am Charlotte Simmons'', New York : Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sex Columnist * Sex educators