On Monday, April 1, the beloved scientist and TV personality William “Bill” Sanford Nye came to The Ohio State University. As a scientist, Nye was tasked with presenting a topic few Ohio State students (especially Sundialers) have had experience with: sex ed.
“We provide condoms for students, but we haven’t had to buy any since our initial purchase in 2001,” said Jen Italia, a member of OUAB. “So we decided to bring Bill Nye in because we thought a familiar face would be a good way to ease students into the topic – just like how they should ease a condom onto their [explicit].”
The issue of adequate sex education is a campus-wide problem, Italia maintained. According to a recent survey by Student Advocates for Sexual Health Awareness (SASHA), of which Italia is the sole member, 52% of Ohio State students believe abstinence is the only form of contraception, and 24% think they can only get an STD if they are homosexual.
“If I did ever have sex, I would never use a condom,” said Richard Head, a second year engineering student who took the survey. “Obviously the reason I’ve never had sex is by choice. I’m turning away women on Discord left and right.”
While out of state students benefited from more comprehensive sex ed, some were unable to fully put what they learned into practice. Italia believed that having a children’s entertainer like Bill Nye would make it easier for these lessons to stick for students from all states. One of these students includes first year finance major Oliver Klozov, who is from New York City and claimed to have received relatively good sex ed.
“I mean, [NYC sex ed] had good info, but I don’t understand why my teacher got so technical,” Klozov said. “How am I supposed to remember what a clitoris is? And finding it? Forget it.”
Despite the lack of basic anatomy knowledge by the majority of Ohio State’s male population, it was mostly women who signed up for Nye’s talk on Monday. Anne Ell, a third year sociology major, said she was given information on how to be able to enjoy intimacy.
“I just learned that apparently women are supposed to feel pleasure from sex,” Ell said. “And more importantly, it was presented by Bill Nye. I wish he had given me a practical demo after the show so I really could have grasped the concept, among other things.”
Until Monday, Nye was unaware that his talk would be centered around sex ed.
“When they said they wanted me to talk about banging, I thought they meant tectonic plates, not penises,” Nye said.
OUAB distributed condoms printed with “science rules” after the event.
Written by a victim of Ohio sex ed