Over-exposed?

Last week, I stumbled across an April 23 New York Times feature titled "The Student Body" -- the focus of which was the possible emergence of a new trend among elite schools: student adult magazines. As in, you know, an IDS with boobs -- besides those of us on staff (ba dum dum, ching!). According to the New York Times, since 1999 the mags have popped up at Vassar, Harvard, Yale, Boston University and the University of Chicago. Some are run as official student groups, receiving school funds and some are run by students independent of the university. Some feature full nudity, others hardly any. And, as student publications go, they're doing brisk business.\nNow, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with their existence. In fact, when it comes to those that are run as official student groups, I'm quite impressed by their universities' commitment to freedom of expression. And I'm hardly what you'd call a prude. Need proof? Okay: penis, penis, penis, penis, penis. \nHowever, that said, reading about these mags' emergence did get me wondering about whether they might be part of a larger societal shift that we'll come to regret. See, as we find ourselves inundated with everything from "Girls Gone Wild" infomercials to Viagra e-mail spam to tarted-up Bratz dolls, sex is becoming more and more mainstream -- both in the breadth of cultural products (that is, more products that directly invoke sex) and in the depth of explicitness (that is, the words, images, etc. are increasingly graphic). Now, this is not a completely bad thing. We're able to live happier, healthier lives thanks to our greater understanding of sex. And, contrary to what the religious fundamentalists would have you believe, repression always produces a scary, twisted society. An open society holds no perversions comparable to those of one repressed. But, in our laudable efforts to demystify sex, are we risking taking away its spark? Is it becoming too familiar? Will dirty jokes no longer be dirty? Is sex becoming, well, less sexy?\nSadly, I have not had the opportunity lately to test this hypothesis. However, I believe a recent experience is revealing. We're all familiar with the parallels drawn between sex and chocolate. Well, several months ago, I was invited to an excellent party based around the cooking and consumption of massive amounts of chocolate -- chocolate cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, enchiladas mole (that is, enchiladas with chocolate sauce). Now, I'm not the world's biggest fan of chocolate, but I like it as well as the next person. Nevertheless, after a couple plates of delicacies, I was done. Very done. So done that I wanted nothing more than to lie down in the dark somewhere, hold my stomach and groan. So done that I thought I'd never eat chocolate again. So done that for the next two weeks I could hardly look at chocolate without getting queasy.\nI don't want to get that sick of sex -- although, I am willing to try.