New MTV series featuring Dan Savage tackles sex taboos

Dan Savage, author and popular “Savage Love” columnist, knows college students are having sex.

“If we taught driver’s education the way we teach sex education, nobody would survive their first trip in the car,” Savage said. “It would be all about the internal combustion engine works and nothing about how to drive. What we do with sex education is we teach all about how the internal reproduction system works and nothing about how
to get laid.”

In his new MTV series “Savage U,” Savage travels with co-star and producer Lauren Hutchinson to 12 colleges to tackle “taboo” subjects such as sex, abstinence, and Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender relationships. The series aims to educate, through frank conversations, about topics too often “swept under the rug.” MTV advertises the series as, “There’s no Q Savage won’t A.”

“Everyone wants to pretend like they know everything, they’re good at everything and that they’re an expert already,” Savage said. “People are afraid to admit that they don’t know what to do because they don’t want to seem inexperienced.”

Questions range from “How do I have a threesome?” to “How do I get a boyfriend?” The show is a compilation of anonymous auditorium sessions and intimate, Q&A conversations with students. Regardless of individual sexual experience, Hutchinson said she believes everyone is curious, and all are looking for information that lets them
feel normal.

“We are a part of a culture that has promoted being unaware about sex as a virtue,” Savage said. “There is this idea that sex should come naturally, and you shouldn’t have to be prepared for it or do any reading. And when you let it ‘just kinda happen’ is when you ‘just kinda get in trouble.’”

Savage said he finds the country’s current state of sex education “pathetic,” with too heavy an influence on abstinence education. This leaves people lacking
information.

“I always joke that if I’m going to speak at a college, the health department will bring me in, not the GLBT organization. Because they know I can undo the damage done by abstinence education in 2 hours, just by talking about consent, safety and responsibility, and also talking in a positive way about how to get laid,” Savage said.

Co-creator of the “It Gets Better Project,” an online support community for GLBT youth, Savage believes GLBT individuals have less information than heterosexual students regarding romantic relationships. For Savage, friends should act as individuals’ ultimate support system, and people should be able to turn to their peers for dating advice and encouragement.

“I went to University of Illinois in the ’80s,” Savage said. “I was gay and out when I arrived during a time when most people weren’t coming out until after college, so dating was hard. But I managed. I went to my friends for advice. Sometimes it was drunk sex talks in a bar, but I really think there is some wisdom in that. It’s the idea that there is wisdom in crowds. That’s what ‘Savage U’ is. It’s crowd sourced.”

Hutchinson, who went to Boston University, said she maneuvered her way through college by participating in a sorority. Because her university was situated within a city, she said it was much more common to hook up with someone once and never see them again. She was really surprised when people on the show admitted to doing things “really detrimental,” such as not using protection or saying “they would just handle something bad when it presented itself.” 

The ultimate message of the show is responsibility, Savage said. And if the unmentionable sexual content of the show isn’t alluring enough for viewers, they can be sure that they will learn something new about romantic relations.

“Abstinence education angers me because it makes people’s sex lives seem more dangerous,” Savage said. “The people that promote abstinence education look at the damage done by abstinence education as proof that we need more abstinence education to prevent people from having sex. Even right-wing douchebags like Mr. (Newt)Gingrich, who are promoting abstinence, aren’t virgins on their wedding night. Young people today need information, and I’m going to help them find it.”