http://youtu.be/eOM5mxcNm9s

Check out the very first episode of Chameleon News, filmed in front of this week’s Campus Hotspot, the St. James Chapel at the corner of Rush and Pearson near the Water Tower Campus.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode of Chameleon News, with a brand new Campus Hotspot!

Anchored by Ericka Reyes/Marketing Director
Written by Kim De Guzman/Editor-in-Chief
Produced by Sean Keenehan/Section Editor

Photo courtesy of Flickr/ SodanieChea: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sodaniechea/

I said before that I wouldn’t say sorry. That was because what happened to me last August wasn’t my fault and I wouldn’t take the blame just because I had been taken advantage of.

Today, though, it is my turn to apologize, for something else. Because I make mistakes, too.

I messed up, kind of hugely.

Remember that boy I wrote about? The one I love and the one who saved me? He’s amazing. He’s been nothing but faithful to me in the past eight months.

But, I made a mistake. Or rather, someone else made a mistake and kissed me and I was too afraid to tell him. I was so terrified to tell him because I was terrified of being left.

The secret ate me alive for months and bothered me every time we got physical and every time we talked about trust.

It ate me up and left me bothered until I had to tell him what had happened – a mere mistake with absolutely no meaning. And you know what? Even though he was upset, we worked through it and it took us a couple months, but we’re much better now.

I don’t blame anyone for what happened. In relationships, mistakes are made.

I do, however, blame myself for keeping quiet for so long. He told me it would have been easier to get over if I had told him as soon as it happened. I know he’s right.

And that’s the advice I have for anyone who feels like they’ve made a mistake or two – talk it out. I know the way a secret can burn you from the inside out, make you sick, make you taste acid. If you’re just honest with your partner, it will get easier.

I’m not saying it’ll be easier from the get go. It will take work and trust will have to be rebuilt. But, it will be worth it. It’s so much easier to love someone when you aren’t trying to protect them from a secret.

And to those who are about to learn big secrets – be forgiving and listen to the whole story. Try to put yourself in your partner’s shoes. Figure out what happened, why it happened, and why it took so long for you to find out. Keep yourself in mind. How would you want your partner to react to you if the situation were reversed?

I’m not saying everything can be forgiven. I know it can’t. Sometimes, a mishap can ruin a relationship, and it usually depends on the situation. A misunderstood kiss is different than a full-blown affair. Mistakes happen, and it’s important to determine mistakes from true unfaithfulness.

All I’m saying is: talk. Be open and be honest and work through what you can. Relationships are important, and communication is a big part.

Don’t let one secret ruin you completely.

News Brief Compiled By Kim De Guzman

Editor-in-Chief

Here’s what’s been making headlines during the past week:

Photo from telegraph.co.uk

A/E

According to BBC News, a play about late singer Amy Winehouse set to debut in Denmark in January 2013 has been canceled. The singer’s estate has blocked the use of her materials in the production.

Photo from veoverde.com

Green Scene

National Geographic claims that a rare species of giant tortoise (which was thought to have gone extinct) may still live on. DNA evidence from a Yale University study reveals the tortoise species Chelonoidis abingdoni may still have more of its kind located in a remote area in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.

Photo from nationstates.net

Culture Shock

The Standard, Hong Kong’s biggest circulation daily publication, reports that Hong Kong has been named a “superpower” in education, along with Finland and South Korea, by an international study known as the Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Education Attainment.

Photo from abcnews.go.com

The Hots

The Huffington Post reports that Florida’s Department of Health has sent out a survey inquiring about intimate details of the sex lives of 4,100 young women. But that’s not all. The state is offering survey participants $10 gift cards to CVS for use on “health-related items.”

Photo from bloomberg.com

Co-Exist

According to the Huffington Post, the Church of England faces a possible “major constitutional crisis,” after rejecting the possibility of women bishops. After the unexpected defeat, the church said the process to allow women bishops would need to begin anew, and couldn’t start again until a new General Synod (the Church of England’s legislative body) is seated in 2015.

Photo from guardian.co.uk

Liberation

The Guardian reports that a Swedish toy retailer is “arming children with the ability to question outdated gender roles.” The retailer, Top Toy, has released their annual holiday catalog with advertising designed to “confound every gender prejudice.” The catalog shows pictures of girls holding Nerf Guns, and boys playing with dolls.

Photo from Reuters

According to Reuters, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras welcomed a debt deal agreed by lenders to unlock aid, promising skeptical Greeks a new dawn after months of haggling under the threat of bankruptcy. Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros ($52 billion), opening the way for 43.7 billion euros of loans to be disbursed by early 2013.

Kim De Guzman is the editor-in-chief. She can be reached at editorinchief@luchameleon.com

-STAFF REPORT-

This weekend, the LUChameleon celebrates its one year anniversary.

It’s been a whirlwind year for us.

We published our very first issue last November. We started this publication because we wanted to give a voice to the alternative students on campus.

We wanted to provide another student media opportunity on campus, as well as “talk about things that aren’t usually talked about publicly” on campus.

We started out with the half the number of staff members that we have now, with no resources whatsoever, and we started out as an online only magazine while we caught our footing.

Over the past year, we continued to grow. Our staff grew bigger, we added a new theme to our coverage, and we decided to publish a print magazine to compliment our online outlet.

We can only dream of what is in store for us during our toddler years.

Here’s a look back at some of the content during our memorable “first year in business”:

In October 2012, staff writer Stevenson Valentor explores the concept of “no soul” in his “Soul Reflection.”

One of our popular online features from the fall 2012 semester is our Wednesday sexuality blog, Wednesday Heartbeats. Entries include decisions on abstinence, dating conundrums, and a personal commentary from a date rape experience.

Back in February, copy editor Andrew Kletzien wrote an opinion piece entitled “A Letter to Catholic Apologists.” The piece was a commentary regarding several sexual assault incidents involving children in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Andrew’s article invoked much discussion from Catholic students on campus.

Staff writer Nick Moutvic highlights what to look for in a potential roommate from the October 2012 piece, “Bedfellows: a modern checklist for finding a roommate.”

Just in time for Nov. 6, Chameleon national contributor Lauren Hannigan demonstrates how astrology plays a role in the 2012 presidential election.

Every Friday throughout the school year, our Friday Fashion Spectrumbloggers have kept you in the know with all the latest style tips, deals, and trends, as well as beauty/makeup/accessories advice, what NOT to wear, and where to shop on a college student budget.

Section Editor Sean Keenehan explores Chicago neighborhood Lincoln Square. He claims it has a “small town European feel steeped in German traditions.”

In honor of Election Day 2012, Editor-in-Chief Kim De Guzman discusses her thoughts on voting in her first ever presidential election in “My First Time [Voting, That Is].”

In September 2012, staff writer Michael Lechowitz offers his two cents about the “death of diversity.”

In one of the very first articles published in the Chameleon, staff writer Barbara Crowley interviews several anons about their feelings towards the taboo subject of sex in “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby.”

Staff writer Jill Kreider sits down with two Loyola students to explore the meaning of the hijab in “Hijabs Uncovered: the Truth About the Headscarf.”

Our very first print issue came out on September 25, 2012. Featured articles included summer study abroad stories from the John Felice Rome Center, a look at the environmentally friendly Cuneo Hall, and the Campus Movie Fest student film festival.

The Chameleon gives you an inside look at Hunger Week, and the significance of this series of week long events on campus in “What do you hunger for?”

In March, staff writer Erika Vigen offered her opinion about the prospective USGA bottled water ban on the Loyola campus in her “environmentally friendly” commentary entitled “Forever Thirsty.”

We’ve started using Storify as a creative tool to tell stories. Check out this one compiled in honor of Election Day.

Our second issue ever [October 2012], came out on October 30, 2012, just in time for Halloween. Featured stories include vegetarian awareness month, a look at Hunger Week, and a neighborhood guide to Chicago ‘hood Lincoln Square.

Our multimedia editors grab a camera and explore the diverse student organizations on campusand their various purposes.

Staff writer Barbara Crowley follows up with her “Let’s Talk About Sex” article by interviewing more anons for another article about the act of masturbation. Is doing the dirty with yourself really so dirty?

Staff writer Nick Moutvic sounds off on the latest developments of male birth control.

Blog and Social Media Director Hannah Lutz gives the rundown on Cafe Descartes, the new corner restaurant/coffee shop on campus.

Of course, there is more than this! Our archives are always up-to-date with previous stories, blog posts, features, and content!

Cheers to Charlie, our staff, and a year of publishing! Thanks for reading both in print and online, throughout the year!

Photo courtesy of Flickr/ mrsdkrebs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/

By Holly West

Chameleon Sex Blogger

Look, I’m no scholar. I generally blog about light-hearted topics and I try to be somewhat funny or clever (This often fails). I’m just your average 19-year-old college student. However, something I do understand (for the most part) is basic common sense. I’m not trying to make a grandeur political statement here or start an argument with anyone (Please God, no more political fights on the internet; I’m already tired of seeing them on my mini-feed).  I just wanted to make everyone aware of a section that I came across when I skimmed the GOP platform:

We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with abstinence education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior. Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually. It is effective, science-based, and empowers teens to achieve optimal health outcomes and avoid risks of sexual activity. We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for abortion and contraception. We support keeping federal funds from being used in mandatory or universal mental health, psychiatric, or socio- emotional screening programs.

Wait, what? Is this 1950 or 2012?   A survey conducted by the National Survey of Family Growth reported in 2002 that over 95% of Americans have or had premarital sex, and that number is only expected to continue to rise. In fact, federal studies in 2007 found that these programs had seemingly no effect on higher abstinence rates.

Research has shown time and again that these abstinence education programs simply do not work. Seriously, just try telling a majority of 16 and 17 year olds in a classroom that abstinence is the only acceptable form of birth control and see if that really sticks with them. Hormones are raging at this age! If teens have decided that they want to have sex, they are going to have sex no matter what their teacher tells them in high school, so it is integral that they have the knowledge to protect themselves against STDs and unplanned pregnancy.

So my question is why is a proposal for abstinence education even on the platform?  While it cites the fact that abstinence is obviously the most effective method to prevent STDs and pregnancy, with 95% of the population sexually active, it just isn’t realistic.

It is plain and simple that the real reason it is on the platform is because of its ties to conservative Christian beliefs.  I have no problem with anyone who wants to wait for religious or personal reasons. It is a deeply personal decision to have sex, and I respect those that want to share that moment on their wedding night. However, I don’t respect other people trying to push those values on everyone else. It is not the government’s job to push its religious values onto us.  One of the great things about the United States is our freedom to believe in one God, many gods or even no God at all.

Teens need to have the access to sexual education in order to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. Like I read once in the scholarly and credible source of a Tumblr quote (yet oddly appropriate somehow), programs like these “are like telling someone they can’t eat a donut because you’re on a diet”.

Photo By Anna Kebe/The Chameleon. JQ1 is a new drug shown to effectively stop the development of sperm in mice.

By Nicholas Moutvic

Chameleon Staff Writer

JQ1 is known as the new drug that has shown an ability to effectively stop the development of sperm in mice.

The drug appeared on the scene this past August.

Baylor Medical University scientists say that because of the positive results throughout testing, they are confident that the drug, essentially a “Pill for Him,” will be able to cross over to human males in as soon as one year.

This has prompted many questions, not the least of which is how soon will it be before republics start another tired tirade on the value of God’s plan, as well as what crazy illogical arguments will they use?

But there’s another conundrum that plagues me.

What is this obsession with wanting to procreate in the first place?

Where are all of my sound-of-mind people who realize that the desire to reproduce is a fundamental weakness?

Besides the obvious problems associated with such matters, like the current state of our planet being in utter flux with overpopulation, it brings with it havoc that is closer to home.

Women, do you really wish to be so substantial of mass for the duration of your pregnancy?

Just reading this you should feel your back getting fatter.

And men, what’s the over/under that your offspring won’t inherit all of those genetic gems, like your dad’s immensely lobular ears or that persistent yet unfortunate schnoz that would even make Barbara shutter that seems to be popping up everywhere on your mom’s side?

Take a beat.

Where’s the fire?

At least I have the decency to hate myself.

Young people aren’t taught this.

I’m all for birth control being available for men, if that’s the only option being presented, but honestly I’d prefer that everyone besides a select few just get neutered.

Take a look at where societal attention is being directed and tell me you don’t agree.

From Teen Mom to The Pregnancy Pact, viewers are fueling this idea in our youth that living in a train wreck will make you successful–or at least get you a television show, which, by our culture’s standards, is basically the same thing.

Don’t even get me started on I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant.

Thank God there’s a cord or it would be called Look What The Plumber Found.

I give you permission instead to be a more socially responsible individual and take a page out of my book.  Instead of wanting to create, I’ve chosen to one day adopt a foster-care runaway teenager, who has the inability to love and trust, and if he or she is dyslexic too it will be the perfect trifecta.

I will nurture and fix them, get them into Yale, and one day they will cure cancer, culminating in my life story becoming a Lifetime movie.  Which is really all any of us can dream for ourselves, am I right?

The majority of you will read this with your mind already made up, and neither I nor anyone else can change it. However, for those of you who are on the fence about the subject of birth control because of your religious beliefs, come hither for a moment.

Isn’t your God all-knowing?  Then why has he let all of these tragic events in our world unfold?  You should stop listening to him and listen to me.  I mean, he sent his only son to die on the cross.

All in all, men have the right to be in charge of their sexual health just as much as women and mice do.

While some may venture that in the future this will be seen as a bad idea gone worse, it is my strong belief that the effectiveness will uphold itself at least to be considered a great idea gone decent.

To contact Nicholas Moutvic, email him at nmoutvic@luc.edu or follow him on Twitter, @nickmoutvic.

Photo Illustration By Anna Kebe/The Chameleon. James Pietrarosso compares having a long distance relationship to walking across burning coals.

By James Pietrarosso
Chameleon Staff Writer

A long distance relationship is like walking across burning coals.

My girlfriend and I have been with each other since our junior year of high school. Now, almost three years later, we can be found at two different universities and still, if not more than, as madly in love as ever.

So why have we been able to make it? What were some of the harder times we’ve faced? Why do I still compare long distance relationships to walking across burning coals?

Most importantly what advice, if any, could I give you?
#1. Close your eyes.

When we finally came to the conclusion that we were going to be going to different schools, we were hurt.

Not because both of us decided to go elsewhere, but because we knew what repercussions that choice would have.

Well, we at least thought we knew.

We had obviously thought about it before. Was it realistic that both of us would end up falling in love with the same school? Probably not. Would we blame each other if we didn’t? Absolutely not.

Were we going to be one of the couples that let distance defeat our happiness? We hoped not.

Regardless, the questions then were simply “what ifs”. Before the conclusion, they hadn’t carried with them the emotional baggage that they do now.

That summer, reality set in. Neither of us mentioned a word about it. The thought of it alone was draining enough. We were together because of how much we loved spending time with each other. Everything we did seemed to be better together. The thought of giving that up came close to ruining us both.

That summer, there were plenty of times I wished I could have ignored everything that I had thought came with the kind of relationship we were about to be in. It would’ve been a lot easier on both of us if we stopped thinking about it, closed our eyes, and simply went with whatever came at us.

#2. Hope for the best.

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t miss her or wish she were here. Had she come here, we would’ve been able to engage in all the little things that make a relationship a relationship far more often.

At this point I can only imagine what holding hands while walking through campus, grabbing lunch in the middle of classes, or watching a movie in my dorm before we go to sleep could feel like.

We are in no way taking the easy way out. I could have, and even though it might have been easier, I know I wouldn’t have been any happier.

Some of the strains will still be present, but as long you stay positive and optimistic, they will slowly start to fade away.

#3. Get to the other end.

Send as many texts as you possibly can. Call him or her before class, Skype at night, and visit every weekend you’re able to. Whatever you need to do, do it. Whatever they need you to do, do it. Believe me, if you are, like me, with the person you love, it will all be worth it.

Sure, sometimes it can be exhausting. I won’t pretend it can’t be. But, at the risk of sounding cliché, if it’s meant to be, your happiness and joy will far outweigh everything else. Today I can understand that if we’re able to make it through this, we’ll be able to make it through anything.

Just like walking across burning coals, we close our eyes, hope for the best, and try to get to the other end.

To this day, the only thing that has managed to make walking across those coals worth it is that we are able to hold each other’s hands throughout it.

Hers in mine is somehow able to numb the pain from the rest of the walk.

To contact James, email him at jpietrarosso@luc.edu.

Photo Illustration By Anna Kebe/The Chameleon. Anna Kebe believes one must be confident in the bond when involved in a long distance relationship.

By Anna Kebe
Print Photo Editor

Long distance relationships may seem simple. You’re in an exclusive relationship with someone who is thousands of miles away. But take it from someone who knows, there is more to LDRs than meets the eye. Considerably more effort, time, and love are required; you must be invested.

Which means you better be sure. Not meaning you are sure that you will marry this guy or girl, but be sure that in this moment you want this person and it is worth all the “shittiness” of a long distance relationship.

My boyfriend of almost a year and I started as just friends. When I moved across the country, we became best friends. And as we journeyed into completely new, separate chapters of our lives, we both came to realize that we didn’t want any one else.

A couple months into our college careers we decided to give this long distance thing a go. We were all in; there was no other option.

In the beginning there was a struggle with determining the proper balance. Friends seemed to not fully understand our connection and the worth of the relationship.

In some sense, my family and his felt we each would hold the other back, seeing in that our minds were always somewhere else. They observed my struggle with being away from the one I love.

And it’s true. How are you supposed to carry on without your other half?

Our love and future keeps me going.

He is the first person I think about in the morning and the last one I think about as I drift off.

We talk everyday no matter what. Whether through text, phone calls, Skype, FaceTime, ya-da ya-da. Communication is more than key in a long distance relationship. We don’t have the luxury of physically being together and partaking in daily life, so that is all accounted for with communication.

Talk about the weather. Talk about the passion generated from a course. Talk about our future and what it may hold. We fill the missed dinner dates, coffee runs, thrifting, and more with communication. It’s all we have right now.

Nevertheless, I cannot complain. The vital communication has produced an indestructible and passionate relationship that I could never have dreamed up on my own. I speak my mind with no consequence but to hear his.

I tell him my hopes and dreams, my aspirations and deepest secrets. And because of this I am confident that he will consistently be by my side (metaphorically) until we decide otherwise.

Certainly long distance relationships take a distinct type of person. Like anything else there are positives and negatives that you learn to give and take with. You must be confident in the bond and more than willing to put in the energy.

But the end result may prove to be more than worth it. You may just find that person that you – as corny as it may seem – want to grow old with.

Here’s to my loving boyfriend Christian.

Anna Kebe is the print photo editor. She can be reached at photo@luchameleon.com.

Photo courtesy of Flickr/ eflon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eflon/

By Chameleon Sexuality Blogger

Hi. It’s me again — the girl with no name and that four-letter secret.

It’s okay, though. I’m doing okay. I’m doing really okay, actually. And it’s probably because of a boy.

Yeah, I still date. Is that surprising to you? Sometimes when I tell people what happened to me, they look at me and whisper, “but you have a boyfriend”, like having been raped should have made me swear off boys and take a vow of celibacy.

It didn’t, though. I still have a heart and fully functioning sex organs.

I like sex. Sex doesn’t bother me. Sex isn’t what makes my chest tight.

I haven’t sworn off boys because one boy hurt me or turned into a lesbian because humans with penises scare me (although I’ve had my own encounters with sexual confusion, but that’s a different story).

No, sex doesn’t terrify me. Trust does. It isn’t the physical bonding that screws with my mind; it’s the every emotion I’ve invested in someone.

I’ve been dating a boy for seven months. He quite literally saved me from the worst depression I’ve ever fell into, and believe me when I say I’ve had many battles.

He knows. People ask me if I tell him. I think he deserves to know, don’t you? He should know that I’m not completely here because another boy three hundred miles away ripped part of me out and kept the wreckage as a trophy.

So, he knows, and daily he puts up with the consequences. I’m clingy. I get scared. I cry, a lot.

I don’t know why he puts up with me, but he does. My ex really did a number on me, and if you haven’t yet read about it, I certainly encourage you to. My ex left a mess that the new boy has to clean up and he does an okay job.

He does an okay job, but that doesn’t make it easy.

Sometimes, I wake him up at four in the morning and make him promise that he loves me. Sometimes, I break down in tears after sex, not because the sex scared me, but because I keep trusting him to not violate me, and it drains me. Sometimes, I grip his hand tight until mine goes numb. Sometimes, I go to a bad place and he has to come looking for me in the dark.

He tells me he wants to marry me. It’s hard for me to trust that, but I want to.

He’s the type of boy a girl like me needs. He sings to me over the phone when it’s two in the morning and I’m stuck in a Georgia hotel room and I just can’t sleep. He doesn’t yell at me when my wrists get bloody or scold me when I tell him I think I might be a little depressed. He buys me tampons and Midol when PMS immobilizes me and buys me Subway after a long night at work.

I think he might be the one and I’m looking at him right now while he’s focused on homework and everything about him screams that I should trust him.

And I think I can.

And I think that’s called progress.

So, my heart goes out for every girl or boy who has ever been wronged and is holding that grudge against all general humans because of that one person who screwed them over. I hate to be cliché, but not everyone’s the same. There are good human beings in this world who are worth the investment. You just have to find them. And you will find them, I promise, when you need them the most.

If you’re in a dark place, hold on. Don’t give up. There’s someone wanting to save you and they’ll be here soon.

If the girl with the secret can get better, so can you.

Photo taken from creativecriminal.com. Richard Neill leaves a message on Bodyform’s Facebook wall describing that the company had lied to him about a woman’s “time of the month.”

By Jill Kreider

Chameleon Staff Writer

If you’ve been on the internet in the past few past weeks, you’ve probably seen or heard about the sarcastic British commercial from Bodyform, a company that makes pads and tampons.

The commercial is actually a response to man named Richard who posted on their Facebook page, complaining about how Bodyform lied to men about what really goes on during that “wonderful time of month” and that he only found out the truth when he got a girlfriend.

In a surprisingly honest response to his post, an actress portraying the company’s C.E.O. goes on to tell Richard what exactly happens: “[There’s] the cramps, the mood swings, the insatiable hunger, and yes, Richard, the blood coursing from our uteri like a crimson landslide.”

I’m guessing if this commercial had been shot in the US, it wouldn’t have seen airtime. In fact, it probably wouldn’t have even been filmed in the first place.

Yahoo goes on to give examples of times that US companies, such as Kotex, have tried to dispel the myth of a ‘happy period’ but ultimately failed because some “major US networks refused to air [the commercial]” because it contained the word ‘vagina’.

The name of a body part that more than half of Americans possess either through birth or surgery cannot be spoken on national television.

I could comment on the overriding patriarchy and sexism in the media that forbids any mention of what actually happens to women’s bodies (be it periods, heart attacks or any other medical situation that presents women in a non-sexual way).

But I won’t go that far. I’ll keep those thoughts to myself.

Hopefully, other companies will follow Bodyform’s wonderful example and start showing what really happens, so as not to confuse poor men like Richard.

To contact Jill, please email her at jkreider@luc.edu.

Photo courtesy of Flickr/ Jasmine Hutcherson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88124721@N07/

By Phillip-John Puzzo

Chameleon Sexuality Blogger

This one time I told my parents a huge secret. I told everyone a huge secret. Telling this secret was the most difficult situation I had ever experienced.

I spent some time in a psych ward with a lot of teenagers who had some big secrets and a few teenagers who couldn’t keep any secrets. I missed school and every morning before entering the ward I had to take off all my clothes so the nurses could make sure I wasn’t smuggling any drugs or weapons into the building. I felt very alone.

My story is very long. In all, I told my parents my huge secret. They didn’t care. They still love me. I told friends and family my huge secret. They didn’t care. They still love me.

This is the rough shell of a story thousands of people tell and experience. The details of every situation are different, but we forget that it all begins with a secret. Telling our secrets is the only way to help others understand that there is no need to keep secrets. These secrets shape us, and we must be proud of our secrets in order to understand our true identities.

Tell your secrets. Someone close wants you to feel at your best physically, mentally, and emotionally. Allow him or her to make you feel better and share secrets as well.

Photo courtesy of Flickr/ creepyhalloweenimages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/halloweenstock/

By Chameleon Sexuality Blogger

Happy Hump Day! I hope everyone had a marvelous break and is making it through midterms just fine.

As we are all aware, there is a certain holiday that is exactly two weeks away! Yes, Halloween! Personally, it’s my favorite holiday not because of the free candy, social atmosphere and excuse to get drunk, but I love Halloween because it is the one time of year I can dress up and be someone I’m not.  Most girls, on Halloween, take it as their one chance to really experiment and accentuate those features that they are normally too scared to show off.

My personal favorite outfits are the naughty cop, sexy nurse, smokin’ fire fighter, she-devil, and suggestive sailor.  You may argue against these outfits and you may not love Halloween but don’t ruin others way of celebrating.  If I feel like showing more leg and cleavage then I normally do, I’m going to do it whether you like it or not.  But really, how many people turn down the opportunity to look at beautiful college girls in short skirts and tight push-up bras?

Now shopping for these accessories and outfits is sometimes a little embarrassing, so I recommend going with a friend.  The best places to look are honestly sex shops! Yes, SEX SHOPS! They have more than just toys and naked pictures in them just so you know.  They usually have racks of playful and sexy costumes.  These shops do a pretty good job of supplying costumes that cover you up just enough to not come off as easy but still not too conservative.  Some close places to look would be around Boy’s Town and the Belmont Red Line stop.

So let’s show some spirit for those confident women that are going to express their physically sexual side! Here is a toast to you.  May your Halloween be full of double takes and whistles!

Photo taken from Forbes.com. Students attending Loyola will find themselves in a diverse campus environment.

By Michael Lechowicz
Chameleon Staff Writer 

I don’t know about you, maybe it is just me, but it seems like we are slowly sacrificing our unique diversity as a culture in America.

Where our parents and grandparents espoused the idea of uniqueness and individuality, we, the younger and less rebellious generation, seem to be collectivizing social interactions at an uncomfortable pace.

Maybe it is the fact we now have one of the the lowest social mobility rates of any developed nation.

Maybe it is just Loyola, proud of its wealthy and homogeneous Catholic heritage.

Or perhaps it’s Marxism and the internet.

Who knows? At any rate, homogeneity of any sort is repulsive.

Does our LGBTQ community truly feel welcome?

Can the College Republicans freely debate them if they want to?

I am not taking a specific stance or arguing for any one of these issues. I am simply taking issue with the unspoken-of silence of seeming tolerance.

Our tolerance should be informed. The “other kids” should not feel like they have to conform.

All of us worry about establishing our careers, building relationships and entering the working world.

Let’s not forget that this is college, though, and we are allowed to have a cornucopia of complex ideas.

To contact Michael Lechowicz, email him at mlechowicz@luc.edu.

Need a study break and want to catch up with the most popular articles, videos, and blogs we had this year? Here’s our mascot, Charlie, with his top 20 picks from this year! (In no particular order.)

Back in February, copy editor Andrew Kletzien wrote an opinion piece entitled “A Letter to Catholic Apologists.” The piece was a commentary regarding several sexual assault incidents involving children in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Andrew’s article invoked much discussion from Catholic students on campus.

In March, staff writer Erika Vigen offered her opinion about the prospective USGA bottled water ban on the Loyola campus in her “environmentally friendly” commentary entitled “Forever Thirsty.”

Every Friday throughout the school year, our Friday Fashion Spectrum bloggers have kept you in the know with all the latest style tips, deals, and trends, as well as beauty/makeup/accessories advice, what NOT to wear, and where to shop on a college student budget.

In one of the very first articles published in the Chameleon, staff writer Barbara Crowley interviews several anons about their feelings towards the taboo subject of sex in “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby.”

In February, staff writer Audrey Kelley produced one of our most popular multimedia pieces featuring different Loyola students and their opinions about feminism and what it means to be a feminist.

Every Tuesday throughout the school year, Chameleon blogger Audrey Kelley produced “Tattoo Tuesday,” a blog featuring Loyola students and their tattoo art. In the blog, Audrey also explores different aspects of tattoo culture. Readers are encouraged to interact with Audrey using the comment section of the website and share their own tattoo stories.

In February, copy editor Brittney Rooney explored the hidden meaning behind the “LGBTQA” acronym, and what each label of the acronym personally meant to those people who identify as said label.

Staff writer Barbara Crowley follows up with her “Let’s Talk About Sex” article by interviewing more anons for another article about the act of masturbation. Is doing the dirty with yourself really so dirty?

In March, LIFT-Chicago, a student organization at Loyola held its annual “Poverty Awareness Week.” Photo Editor Kevin Bautista spoke with Nick Passarelli, Public Relations Manager of the LIFT Uptown office to get an inside look at Poverty Awareness programming and the LIFT movement’s significance.

Staff writer Audrey Kelly produced another “environmentally friendly” video this semester, in which she interviews different Loyola students and the different ways they practice “going green” on campus.

Back in November, copy editor Andrew Kletzien writes a commentary about the Bible and its origins in the early history and spreading of Christianity and why what you hear may not always be what you believe.

In February, Chameleon staff writer Dimitri Plikas profiled Loyola student organization Cru, and took an in depth look at how the students who are involved in Cru “go forth and set the world on fire.”

In March, after finishing the mandatory online e-Toke checkup program, staff writer Paul Gusiewski wrote a commentary piece concerning Loyola’s stance on marijuana and its “anti-marijuana message.”

Following copy editor Andrew Kletzien’s article about the recent outbreak of sex abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Loyola student (and Catholic) Emily Sammon penned this commentary.

In February, Photo Editor Kevin Bautista profiled The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy (CUERP). Kevin goes inside the heart of Loyola’s green initiative, and explores the different ways CUERP fuels the university’s drive for sustainability.

In March, Multimedia Editors Sarah Murray and Marie Janzen produced a video entitled “An Inside Look at Loyola’s Dining Cuisines and Services.” Several Loyola students were interviewed about their opinions of Loyola’s dining services.

In April, Editor-in-Chief Kim De Guzman wrote about her experiences using the popular new dating website, OkCupid. She explores the website’s different features and the benefits of online dating on OkCupid.

On Wednesdays throughout the school year, an anonymous Chameleon staff writer published the “Not-So-Whisper-Wednesdays” blog, a sex blog about…well, all things sex.

In honor of our namesake reptile, in February, Multimedia Editor Sarah Murray went on an adventure to a reptile store in Evanston to find a real live chameleon (YES, A REAL CHAMELEON) and learn about it.

In April, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama visited the Loyola campus to deliver a speech on “Interfaith Collaboration.” Editor-in-Chief Kim De Guzman recapped His Holiness’ speech and students’ reactions to it.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/taniasaiz.

Happy Hump Day! I hope you’re all enjoying your final week of classes before the summer break.

This week I want to talk about lips. Not those lips, you perverts, the ones on your face. I want to talk about lips because they are what make my favorite encounter possible, kissing.  I have kissed roughly 20 odd individuals in my lifetime so far, so I can honestly say that different lips make a different kiss.  Yes, yes it is true that if you’re a bad kisser it doesn’t matter if you have lips made by Zeus, you still suck, BUT it doesn’t hurt to have lips straight from Olympus.

I have kissed girls and guys with thin lips, no lips, big lips, and way too much lip.  I used to kiss a boy who gave way too much lip, both when kissing and when he back sassed me.  He had big lips already, but when he kissed me it was almost like his lips grew up and out.  Because he gave too much lip, he also gave too much spit; which led to chapped lips on my part and the eventual demise of our relationship, plus he turned out to be secretly gay.  Who da thunk it, right?

I used to kiss one girl in secret from time to time, and I loved every second of it.  We would go out to public places that we figured no one we knew would see us, and kiss.  Or we would just stay in my house… and kiss.  Or we would sit in my car… and kiss.  That girl had great lips.  I’m not really sure if it was her lips that made me want to kiss her so bad, or if it was the kissing in secret part of it that I loved, but all I know is, I loved every second of those secret rendezvous with her.

I just have one more tale to share with you all before I bid you adieu.  This one involves a girl that is very special to me, who has the most voluptuous lips I ever did kiss.  I’m sure we all have had that one person whose lips make us excited just to think about, and if you haven’t, then your life is unfortunate… or you’re not kissing the right people…or both.  Well, this girl’s lips are something special.  At first her Angelina Jolie lips would make mine a little dry, but once I built up a resistance to the powers of Latina kissers, I began to really appreciate them.  It also helps that her lips are softer than baby skin and usually taste like some kind of Burt’s Bees, which made the dryness of my lips completely acceptable.

With that said: Remember my usual warnings. Good luck on finals. And enjoy your summer, but be careful because that hot body that you see on the beach, has probably seen a lot more than just too much sun…if you catch my drift…so get yourselves tested.

Catch “Not-So-Whisper Wednesday” when it is published every Wednesday.

Photo By Kim De Guzman/The Chameleon. DateMySchool is an online dating site exclusively for college students. The site prides itself on its safety and exclusivity features.

By Kim De Guzman
Editor-in-Chief

Some people question why college students would use an online dating website in the first place.

We could meet people at bars or shopping on Michigan Avenue, for instance. Or a Friday night party.

However, for students who devote a lot of time to studying, participate in extracurricular activities or work outside of attending classes, finding time to socialize may be a difficult thing to do.

DateMySchool.com (or DMS) changes the game by filling a void for college students interested in online dating.

The dating site was founded by Columbia University MBA classmates, Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer.

DMS was born when a female nursing student complained that her academic department was 90 percent female.

Alexa and Meyer were students in the business school, which was 80 percent male.

They then realized that students from different departments and campuses wanted to meet each other.

There was no option for that, so they conceived the notion of DateMySchool.

Students don’t have to be looking for a relationship to use DMS.

“Sign up to get an adventure” or “Sign up to get a boyfriend/girlfriend” are a few of the scrolling taglines written across the top of the DateMySchool website.

The website has previously been featured in the New York Times, CNN, NBC, and TimeOut.

According to Melanie Wallner, DateMySchool’s Director of Public Relations, the exclusive college student dating site is unlike any other social platform because it is a “reversed social network,” it has “advanced privacy, instant gratification, and zero embarrassment.”

DMS has an exclusivity and safety feature. Only select schools are on the website.

Access to DateMySchool is limited to students and alumni with active university email accounts. One email equals one person.

Members can also choose to include or exclude particular schools or departments in their privacy settings.

There is also anonymity involved. DMS site members are not searchable on Google and they can choose to stay anonymous while using it.

The dating site operates at over 1,000 4-year colleges and universities worldwide. It boasts over 125,000 members. 90 percent of those members are students (45 percent undergrads and 45 percent grads), and 10 percent are alumni.

Additionally, hundreds of students join every day and DMS has plans to expand internationally soon.

In order for students to have a successful experience on DateMySchool, Wallner advises students to do the following: “upload a minimum of three photos, post a status on the feed, and feel empowered to initiate conversation via a private message and/or IM.”

Wallner explains that DMS is “responsible for over 50% of the dates at schools like Columbia University, where we have a major presence.”

“Plus,” she adds, “many of our users land dates within 30 minutes on DMS.”

As I’ve stated before, I usually would not spend time on a website such as DMS.

But after my experience with OkCupid a couple of weeks ago, and after learning the fact that Wallner herself met her current boyfriend through DateMySchool, I ventured to the website personally to see what all the hype was about.

My network currently consists of students from different campuses in Chicago, including Loyola, Columbia College, Northwestern, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), University of Chicago, and DePaul.

I can also set an age range filter, a geographic area filter, along with a college/university filter in order to control who is able to look at my profile.

It’s a pretty interesting experience so far.

I haven’t used it long enough to garner a date or a new study buddy, but I have already spoken to students from Loyola and Columbia College.

And some of these people…ooohhh…mama.

Only time (and more time spent on the website) will tell, however. If you excuse me, I’ve got a date to find.

Kim De Guzman is the editor-in-chief. She can be reached at editorinchief@luchameleon.com. She’s really glad you can’t google her DateMySchool profile.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/oimax.

By Jay S.
Chameleon Sex Blogger

I realize it’s been awhile since my last post so I deeply apologize again.  I hope everyone’s year is coming to a nice close.  I know for me it is getting more stressful the closer I get to the end.  There is some news I would like to share with you guys that I should have posted about awhile ago, but I have been extremely busy.  Over spring break I came out to my sister.  I had been planning on doing so for awhile.  She was one of the last few people I felt like I absolutely had to tell.  My sister and I had always been extremely close, and it wasn’t right that she didn’t know that part of my life.  I had had a boyfriend without her knowing, and had gone through so much personally and felt like I didn’t want to ‘burden’ her with my life.  In actuality she probably could have helped me out a lot along the way.

It was the last day of spring break, night time, and we were at Starbucks.  And right before we ordered, I turned to her and said, “There is something I think you should know, mom and dad already know, but I’m gay.”  Her response was then, “I already knew.”  I was honestly surprised by her answer.  I had always thought she had no idea, but then again someone that close to you might even know you better than you know yourself.  I was so happy she was ok and welcoming about it and now I feel like there are no secrets between us.  I look forward to talking to my sister now and forming a stronger bond between us.

I hope you all have a good couple of next weeks, and I hope to post again soon.  Please leave comments with any questions for me, I’d be glad to answer them.

-Jay S.

Catch blogger Jay S. and his sex blog every Monday.

Photo By Kim De Guzman/The Chameleon. OkCupid.com is the "fastest growing free online dating site." The website uses a special mathematical algorithm to match people together.

By Kim De Guzman
Editor-in-Chief

I love a lot of things about spring: a) I won’t see snow for another eight-ish months, b) I can wear shorts/dresses again, and c) nice weather puts me in a better mood.

Another thing I enjoy about spring is the prospect of spring romance. Nice weather makes hormones come out in full swing, and the mundanity of schoolwork makes us students feel restless and lonely for a social life again.

Not to mention the fact that guys and girls wear less clothes in spring and that seriously pumps up our libido.

There are many ways to find spring romance prospects, like a bar, the beach, or a party.

But come on. We are in the information age. What other way to find a date/fling/relationship/whatever label you choose to attach it to it, than an online dating site?

These sites, like datemyschool.com, are becoming more popular amongst students nowadays.

Over the past few weeks, I have been hearing a lot about this website: OkCupid.

OkCupid tags itself as “the best dating site on Earth.”

According to their official website, OkCupid is “the fastest growing online dating site. We use math to get you dates. It’s extremely accurate, as long as (a) you’re honest, and (b) you know what you want.”

OkCupid facilitates both heterosexual and same-sex relationships. The website contains many various forms of communication, like public forums, instant messages, and emails.

The dating site was founded by Chris Coyne, Max Krohn, Christian Rudder, and Sam Yagan.

It turns out Coyne, Yagan, and Krohn previously played a part in developing other popular websites. Ever hear of SparkNotes and TheSpark.com? Yep, they were masterminds behind that leading brand of educational study aids.

Now they’ve switched gears to play matchmaker with OkCupid.

I had a chance to check out the site the other night when I was hanging with a friend.

To generate matches, OkCupid uses a special algorithm that applies data coming from a user’s site activities, as well as a user’s answers to questions.

While we were playing around on the site, we realized that we could use specific keywords as filters within our matches.

After searching different keywords and results (like majors, neighborhoods), we plugged in the phrase, “Loyola University Chicago.”

I didn’t believe any results would come up.

There were results all right.

I won’t go into detail about the different results that came up but I saw profiles of people who I’ve seen on campus, people who have graduated from Loyola, and even people who work at different university facilities.

If anything, it’s pretty entertaining. And you can ogle virtually at people you would see on campus.

Normally, I wouldn’t be inclined to spend time on dating websites. Especially one that uses math, (a subject I absolutely detest), to match people together.

But I must admit, OkCupid is worth checking out, no matter if you’re looking for a short-term/long-term relationship, someone new to talk to, a friend, or even just another way to procrastinate on that research paper due in two hours.

Kim De Guzman is the editor-in-chief. She can be reached at editorinchief@luchameleon.com. She may or may not have made her own OkCupid account after writing this article.

Photo By Hannah Lutz/The Chameleon.

Happy Hump Day, cherubs. I hope all is well.

You can tell a lot about someone by the way that they smell. If they smell like air freshener, they’re trying to hide something. If they smell like perfume or cologne, then they’re trying to impress. If they smell like soap, then they are clean. And those people, boys and girls, are the ones you should be after. The clean ones.

I once dated a girl whose best friend dreaded the thought of bathing. Unfortunately, there are only so many ways to bribe a 20 year old to shower before she starts catching on that the items being promised to her will never actually come. I remember one day, while sitting on my ex’s bed, the best friend came stomping into the room exclaiming loudly that her girlfriend would be picking her up shortly so they can go on their anniversary date. When asked if she was showered and ready, she smirked, grabbed the nearest spray with a scent, and proceeded to spray the various crevices of her body that I assume hadn’t been washed in longer than awhile. Thankfully, my ex and I decided to go our separate ways before the best friend’s habits rubbed off on her.

My girl is a clean one. (Praise Jesus.) So clean that the showers she takes would amount to the time it takes to write, edit, print, and publish a new edition to the Britannica Encyclopedias. (If you don’t know what they are, then you’re too young to be reading this blog.) Even though she takes showers long enough for me to forget who she is, when she comes out, all I can think is, “mmm baby, you smell good.”

Now that I have made you all thoroughly self-conscious about your own hygiene, I will leave you with my normal spiel. Peace, love, and cherry-bombs. No glove, no love. And get y’all selves tested. Happy humping!

Catch “Not-So-Whisper Wednesday” when it is published every Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/bfsminid.

Hello all! Since we all know by now that I LOVE talking about myself, this week’s episode is naturally one of my many experiences in the dating world with a certain ex.

Since the eighth grade, when my parents unfortunately found out about my orientation from a crazy possessive mother, I have not been able to sleep outside of my house. (This of course ended abruptly when I got past winter break of my senior year, and my mom decided that having me sleep over my girlfriend’s house was less cumbersome than having me around). And my most unfortunate/recent ex girlfriend could not stand the fact that I could not sleep anywhere that she slept from Friday to Sunday every weekend of my junior year. So every Friday night at around 5pm she would text me demanding that I sleep at some upstanding citizen’s house with her, and of course my mother was NOT having it. (It doesn’t help that my family strongly disliked this young woman). Naturally when I said that I could not attend the super cool party that she was going to, she would announce that we needed to go on a break.  This was obviously the best way to approach the problem of no sleepovers. She did this every weekend for the first two months of our relationship.

Now I know what you’re all thinking right now, “why the hell would you stay with such an awful person?!” I’ll tell you why.  I stayed because every Saturday when she would go out and do her thing, she’d get extremely drunk. And when she would get extremely drunk she would call me at a ridiculous hour with a sob story about how much she wished I were there. Those were my favorite moments. Not because I really loved her, and hearing those words made me feel all warm and fuzzy, but because I would get such a kick out of those moments of weakness in her. I stayed with her for three years, and eventually she stopped leaving on weekends. Instead she would leave on weekdays, holidays, or birthdays. When I think about this particular ex, I really cannot explain why I stuck with her for so long, but without her I would not be where I am or with the girl that I love.

If any of you have a story of a douchey ex, feel free to e-mail NotSoWhisperWednesdays3@gmail.com.

Until next week: peace, love, and cherry-bombs. Reminder: No glove, No love. And please for the love of God, get yourselves tested.

Catch “Not-So- Whisper Wednesday” every Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/doortoriver.

Good morning, afternoon, evening to all. I assume your week is going well because if it was a total disaster I’m sure you would have better things to be doing than reading my blog. Unless of course my weekly blog is what keeps you going, in which case, you’re welcome.

This week I want us all to flashback to my sophomore year in high school. I had just gotten out of a yearlong relationship with my first time girl (read first blog if you’re lost), and I was completely heartbroken. So naturally I was playing the field in hopes that my perfect someone would come running down the halls into my arms. In this story, two someones came running down the hall into my arms. For the purpose of the story I will name these two young women Sophia and Betty. Sophia and Betty were/are best friends, and they were my rebound girls. Sophia was a sweetheart, and we had some chemistry. But Betty was something completely different; Betty was a heartbreaker. I began to hook up with both girls, and for a while it was fine, until right before the Christmas holiday, Sophia decided to confront me about my “affair” with Betty. Betty took Sophia’s side with the words “she is my best friend, I would NEVER do anything to hurt her,” and I believed that the girls were out of my life. Until the next day when my phone went off in second period with a text from Betty demanding that I meet her in the bathroom closest to my classroom immediately. I got the okay from my history teacher and walked over to the bathroom to find Betty already there waiting for me wearing an outfit that made her look like a slutty candy cane. Before I could say anything I was pushed into the bathroom stall, where we remained for the next 20 minutes. When we were finished I remember asking Betty why she was doing what she was doing even though Sophia was her best friend. Betty responded with “What Sophia doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Merry Christmas.” Betty and I had a few more flings throughout my sophomore year, but after that she decided that she was straight, and I decided that my crazy ex was my best option for the remainder of my high school career. But that is a story for another time.

I was told to look back on this tale for a closing statement by one of my fellow bloggers, and when I did I realized that this time in my life really didn’t change anything for me. I’m not saying that when you’re heartbroken you should find the first pair of best friends you can and coerce them into a love triangle, but if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, don’t be discouraged, all that means is that the two best friends you’re after are obviously better friends than Betty and Sophia, or you’re just not as desirable as I am.

If you have a story you want to share that involves crazy best friends who don’t care about each other’s feelings, feel free to e-mail me at NotSoWhisperWednesdays3@gmail.com.

With that said: Peace, love, and cherry-bombs. No glove, no love. And please go get yourselves tested.

Catch new posts from “Not-So-Whisper Wednesdays” every Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/kyz.

Good morrow to you all.

This week I want to write briefly about a phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. It’s two words that are only uttered in the comfort of your best friend’s apartment. Bad Sex. Bad sex is something that at one point or another we may be subjected to. Every time can’t be a winner, right? Unless we all wait until marriage, but even then there will be times when you’re not completely feeling it with your spouse.

I can’t really remember very many bad moments in my love makin’ career. But, there is one that I am just dying to share with the world. It was with an ex that I was with for way too long, and it was early in the morning. She always ranted and raved about wanting to have “morning sex”, so finally I allowed this event to take place, and it was quite the event. So, while everything was occurring I happened to fall asleep. And I don’t mean I was “resting my eyes” I mean I passed the hell out, and of course she was completely appalled by this. But, honestly, it was eight in the morning and it was a Saturday. The girl really couldn’t wait two more hours?

With that said, I want all of my little cherubs to remember, if you do experience a bad sexy time moment, don’t get discouraged, it’s not the end of the world, and I certainly hope not the end of your in bed days. I mean, who would want their last experience to be a bad one?

Until next week: Peace, Love, and Cherry-bombs. Remember: No glove, no love. And please get y’all selves tested.

Catch the “Not-So-Whisper Wednesday” sex blog posts every Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/ardyiii.

By Jay S.
Chameleon Sex Blogger

In one of my classes, a student passed around a survey asking everyone “How many people have you romantically kissed in your life?” Everyone’s answers were being collected for a psychology class. I was one of the last to receive the sheet, so I was able to see everyone else’s answers. Many people had written down numbers in the 20’s and 30’s. I am not sure if I’m just inexperienced or understood the meaning of “romantically” kissed a little better, but I was happy to put down my number, “1.”

I have only loved one person before, and now that I look back on our relationship, I’m not sure if it was even real love. When we dated, we were both in the closet and kept our relationship a secret from our friends and family. We still went on dates and had great times together; however, the ‘secretness’ took a toll. To this day, the guy I was in a relationship with is still unable to admit he is in fact gay. He still claims he is straight.

There is great debate on sexuality and whether it can be defined into categories or if people just fall somewhere on a spectrum. I believe in the idea of a spectrum; however, I have a huge issue with the fact that someone I was in love with was unable to admit that what we had was real, that he felt as strongly about me as I did him.

Since our relationship, he has been dating a girl and is still struggling with his sexuality. We broke up before college, because we were heading off to two different cities. We had planned on keeping contact though, and I still had hopes for the future. I was sadly mistaken when he decided to go back into the closet and to continue to date only girls. He shut me off and refused to acknowledge me or our relationship.

With there still being a social stigma about homosexuality, I think it’s hard for a lot of individuals to come out. Queer men and women have a huge fear of not being accepted and so their solution is repression.

Coming to Loyola my goal was to get over him. I started frivolously dating and meeting guys ending up with nothing meaningful in the end. I still am unsure if I am completely over him, and this post was honestly a little hard to write. It’s taken me a long time to talk about such heartbreak.

I guess the best I can do is be there for him if he ever needs help. And to be there for anyone still struggling with their sexuality. No one wants to be shoved out of the closet, but rather guided at their own pace. As lame or cliché as that may sound, there may not be a better way to put it.

Catch blogger Jay S. and his sex blog every Monday.

Illustration By Katie Condon/The Chameleon. Advocate is one of Loyola's largest student organizations and is open to all students, despite his or her sexuality or gender.

By Brittney Rooney
Copy Editor 

Today everyone is impacted by the existence of the LGBTQ community.

Whether they are a part of the community, opposed to it, or oblivious, it is a reality that exists in society.

According to Paul Kubicki, the Vice President of Loyola‘s LGBTQ group, Advocate “healthily explores concepts of gender identity, sexual orientation or biological sex, and the very real impacts of all three on our life.”

Advocate is one of Loyola’s largest student organizations on campus, and it is continually growing.

When asked about the biggest misconceptions about Advocate, Kubicki says, “[Students think] that it [Advocate] is only for the LGBTQ community.”

Advocate is an open space to explore identity. “Everyone has an identity,” Kubicki says, “just not everyone has awareness of it.”

Dealing with this identity can be serious or fun, Kubicki says, but it has to be dealt with.

Advocate provides a window for those who are ready to talk about it. Kubicki also believes that Advocate allows an opportunity to talk on a personal level.

Advocate meets on Tuesdays, at 8:15 p.m. (so as not to conflict with Glee!) in Cudahy Science, room 313.

Brittney Rooney is a copy editor. She can be reached at brooney@luc.edu.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/13923263@N07.

By Jay S.
Chameleon Sex Blogger

I want to apologize for this next post coming in so late.  I have been overwhelmed with all the work and happenings of college.  I hope all of you are getting back into the swing of things and are enjoying your classes.  I am actually taking 19 credit hours this semester, so I am going to be extremely busy.

I know it’s kind of late in the semester to be talking about winter break, but I just want to keep things updated.  I ended up not coming out to my sister.  I got nervous, scared, and eventually just ran out of time.  I’m not sure how to approach it.  It’s almost like a Catch 22.  I am nervous abut telling her, but also the longer I wait the more mad she’ll be because I waited so long.  So I’m at a loss of what to do.  Maybe I’ll have the strength when I get back home for spring break.

In this post I wanted to talk about the evolution of friendships during your freshman year.  I am not sure about everyone else but I know mine are constantly changing.  If I look back at my friends at the beginning of the year and compare them to the present I find a lot of differences.  I’ve even lost a friend already this semester.  What makes a friendship end?  Is it because one of the individuals changes or do they both change?  Or is it just finding out something about a person that can be a ‘deal-breaker?’

For every friend I have lost I have gained another, and I honestly can say I am still happy.  I am not saddened by the friends I have grown apart from but more or less just puzzled.  It’s amazing  how you can be so close to someone and then completely wipe him or her out of your life.

My friend I lost this semester (we’ll just call her May) and I were extremely close.  I confided in her a lot about myself, and we hung out a lot of the time as well.  Towards the beginning of the semester though, I caught May in a bunch of lies towards me, and they eventually led to our downfall.  Now I barely see her.  It was one of the first friendships I had lost in my life that I had felt bad about, one that confused me.  It was the first time I had become friends with someone who wasn’t real.  I was a friend with the perception of the person instead of the actual person herself.

They always say as one door closes two more open; and I believe that to be very true.  After losing this friendship, I have formed stronger relationships with other friends, including my new roommate this semester.  (What happened to my old roommate last semester is a post in itself).  But I am excited to start this semester off right with new friends and hopefully some great new memories.  Good luck with classes this week.  And I hope to start posting more frequently.  Thank you.

Catch blogger Jay S. and his sex blog every Monday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/inubleachanimefan.

Welcome back all.  I’m going to skip my normal sappy introduction about how great you all are and dive right in.

This week I want to talk about something that we all have, but are sometimes too bashful to discuss.  One word, three syllables… fetishes.  “Oh no she didn’t!  Did she just say the F word?”  Yes, I did.  And what a glorious F word it is.  A fetish is that dirty little secret that we sometimes sweep under the rug, or hide in our closet out of fear of other people’s reaction.  My question is, why?  I have fetishes, and I have fantasies.  And I have fantasies that involve those fetishes. In order for us to get the most out of our sex lives, why not unleash those fetishes for the world to know? How else are we going to find that someone who loves having their toes sucked as much as you like sucking them?  Or maybe you LOVE being in public knowing that there is a chance that someone MIGHT see what you’re doing. So what?  If that’s what you’re into, then be into it.  Trust me, there is someone out there that will be all about your kinky library fetish. I am one of those “in public” people, my girlfriend though, not so much.  I want to have sex in Dumbach.  In one of those classrooms with the single digit numbers that only a few of us have had a class in.  Maybe across the teacher’s desk, or in the back of the classroom.  I also have a fantasy that involves a large corner office and a surprise visit from my spouse, but isn’t that very been there, done that?

If you have a fetish that you want to reveal, send it to me at NotSoWhisperWednesdays3@gmail.com, or just leave it in the comment box below.

With that said, Peace, love, cherry bombs. Remember: No glove, no love. And, get yourselves tested you crazy kids.

Catch the “Not-So-Whisper Wednesday” sex blog posts every Wednesday.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/photos/danieldisintegration. Queer, onced used as a derogatory term, has been reclaimed by the rainbow community as a term of identification.

By Brittney Rooney
Copy Editor 

If you ask your grandparents, they will tell you that kids were either normal or that they were queer.

“Queer” was used as a derogatory term that was offensive to anyone who did not identify as heterosexual or cis-gender.

However, it stretched beyond that to be an insult to any person who was different, specifically if they were males who were feminine or masculine females. On the playground, kids played “smear the queer,” because the last thing any kid wanted to be was queer.

Today, the rainbow community has reclaimed the title queer. It is no longer taken as hurtful, but rather truthful.

It is a word that is not gender or sexual identity specific and unites everyone under one umbrella.

It is so accepted now that it is a part of the traditional acronym. The most recent acceptable acronym is now LGBTQIA.

Now it may look like a jumble of ABCs, all meaning you aren’t straight. But here’s what they really mean.

L is the first letter, standing for lesbian. A lesbian is a person who identifies as a woman and is emotionally and physically attracted to other women.

G, for gay, is similar, but rather gay is the term for a man who is attracted to other men.

B, for bisexuality, is a sexuality that is attracted to both men and women. Because sexual orientation is often thought of as a spectrum, rather than a black and white bilateral, a person who identifies as bisexual is not necessarily attracted to men and women equally.

For this reason, Alfred Kinsey coined the term “Kinsey scale.” It is a scale that stretches from 0, meaning exclusively heterosexual, to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual. Any person who lays between 1 and 5 on the scale may identify as bisexual.

T is the next letter, which stands for transgender. A transgender person is a person who was biologically born a certain sex, but does not feel that is his or her gender.

If you think, “their hearts don’t match their parts,” you’re on the right track. The transgender community has often felt separate from the traditional LGBT community, because it deals with gender and sex rather than sexuality.

A transgender person may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, asexual, bisexual, or anything in-between, but it is completely separate from their transgender identity.

Q stands for queer. Queer is the umbrella term for any person who does not feel he or she fits the traditional heterosexual or cis-gender title.

It also gives room for these individuals to find a label he or she is comfortable with if he or she chooses.

Some however, prefer to never label his or her identity and the term queer is a way for that person to do that.

In some communities, Q also stands for questioning. This is to encompass all those individuals who are not sure where on the spectrum of gender or sexuality he or she lies and to recognize his or her struggles.

I, in the acronym, is for intersex. While this can be a biological condition where a person is born with the biological characteristics of both male and female, it is not always biological.

This term can also be used for those individuals who do not identify themselves as exclusively male or female. Those who identify as intersex often are described as “androgynous,” which recognizes that the individual prefers to live without gender-specific characteristics.

Like a transgender person, intersexuality does not correlate with sexual orientation.

Ally is the most typical explanation to the letter A. An ally is someone who does not identify as anything other than heterosexual and cis-gender, but is fully supportive of those who are.

These individuals typically fight for equal rights in the public sphere and have closer friends or family who do identify as LGBTQI, although this is not always the case.

A can also stand for asexual, which is a person who does not feel any sort of sexual attraction to others. In other words, those who do not have a sexual orientation will identity as asexual.

One term that is often very common among the LGBTQIA is pansexual. Although not in the acronym, pansexuality refers to the potential for attraction to all gender identities and biological sexes.

Often nicknamed “gender blind,” pansexuals reject the notion of the gender binary and chose partners based on personality rather than gender.

Although the acronym may seem as a device to fit each person in the community into one of seven boxes, that is not the intention.

The intention is to show each person who feels drawn to the community that he or she is welcome, with no regard to what that person identifies as.

Brittney Rooney is a copy editor. She can be reached at brooney@luc.edu.

Illustration By Matt Gillis/The Chameleon. Many of the most prominent religions take a stand against homosexuality.

By Andrew Kletzien
Copy Editor

Recently Loyola hosted a panel of five speakers who came to address attendees about religion and the LGBTQIA community.

Included were two representatives of Judaism, two representatives of Christianity (one Catholic and one Protestant), and one representative of Islam.

The Catholic representative, a Catholic graduate student here at Loyola, started off by pointing out that alternative readings are not helpful in interpreting the Bible from a queer perspective.

Bravo. We will get nowhere by pretending that the passages aren’t there, that it doesn’t say what it actually says. There are plenty of arguments against the Westboro Baptist Church, but one of the effective ones is not the denial of the fact that the Bible says the things that they claim it does.

She took the approach of looking at eunuchs in the Bible, specifically the acceptance of eunuchs in to the heavily kingdom. This entire tangent was off-point, as a castrated young male is hardly comparable to the LGBTQIA community today.

It is actually quite the disturbing comparison, for if the LGBTQIA community was in fact castrated and unable to sexually penetrate each other, the Catholic Church would probably have less of a problem with their lifestyle.

When speaking of the passages of prohibition of homosexuality, she basically said, “Well, you’re not really going to the right passages.”

But, I thought this was the Word of God? The Supreme Law? Taking certain passages and throwing others out completely is exactly the common argument against WBC and the Phelps family, and here we have Catholics doing the exact same thing, just in the opposite direction.

She expressed deep concern over the lack of response of the Catholic bishops to gay suicides in America, but noted that the nuns of the U.S. have responded quite readily with open acceptance.

But of course, she admitted, these establishments have been under heavy attack from the Vatican. For what? For condemning suicides of gay teens.

The representatives of Judaism, in my eyes, were the most truthful. Right from the get go, he admitted that Hebrew scripture is ardently against homosexuality, but coupled that with the declaration that he is not exactly religious, giving reason to how he has consciously become an LGBTQIA activist in Israel.

He openly admitted that Judaism is filled with little tricks to get around sinning and emphasized the Jewish distinguish ability between intentional sins and non-intentional sins.

But, alas, he outright rejected this idea too, as most reasonable people today would. He was the only to explicitly mention the difficulties of being gay and being religious.

The Islamic responses reminded me much of the typical politician response to questions posed.

The answers were extremely vague, took the alternative readings, which the Catholic rallied against, and basically said, “Well there are other texts that say different things, too.”

What does the Koran say about homosexuality? Well, I think most of my readership can answer that for themselves. She noted that it’s not just gay sex that is outlawed, but all sex outside of marriage.

Of course, now I’m sure that’s bound to attract more new age teenagers and win them over.

She pointed toward commonality between the gay community and the Muslim community, saying that they are both oppressed and can share that in common.

Well, Jews have been oppressed for centuries, yet I hardly see them bonding over it with the Muslims in the Middle East.

The Protestant preacher was the most frustrating of the panelists for me. Granted, he was the only “preacher” on the panel.

He also focused on the role of the eunuchs in the Bible, which I have already taken issue with. He even went as far as to ask, “Is being gay a real thing?”

He asked if we could go back in time and pinpoint anyone as explicitly queer. He seemed to imply that we could not. Well, I think Walt Whitman or Alexander the Great would take issue with that specifically.

He made the claim that Protestants today are welcomed to dissent with the Church, and that it is their right and they are not treated differently.

However, I ask back to him, “Why does LGBTQIA acceptance have to be dissent? Why can’t it be institutional practice?”

At one point he implied, “It’s a lovely thing to be LGBTQIA. I’m going to use my teaching authority to declare it to be so.” Doesn’t this seem too much of a trickery of the system?

It just seems as though he got by without ever mentioning, “This will be my preaching platform,” got the authority, and made it so. At one point, in response to a question, he asked a question, “Does Hebrew scripture really condemn homosexuality? Maybe.”

Maybe? I’m pretty sure the Jewish panelist cleared that up for us on the first question. Hebrew scripture explicitly condemns homosexuality, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Being the pressing atheist I am, I asked the panel, “Let’s suppose we were talking about political parties, and each of you represented a party. If one of your parties included in its platform something similar to the Leviticus prohibitions, I would immediately withdraw my support. Why should the LGBTQIA community allow religion a special pass that we wouldn’t give to political parties?”

The Protestant plainly answered, “Well we aren’t political parties.”

The Catholic declared her dissent and removal of support from the Magisterium, which, I guess she can get away with because she isn’t a priest (and couldn’t even be one if she wanted to).

She said that there are plenty of pro-equality Catholic groups. This is very true, however, the Catechism, the basic teachings of the Church, is quite adamant on their position, so why would I support that?

The Catholic Bishops in America just came out with a new initiative, one rallying against (not divorce), but gay marriage (www.marriageuniqueforareason.org).

Once again the Jewish panelist impressed me the most, but still fell short. He argued that there is something more to religion than political parties, that it embodies something bigger.

That’s fine, but to an atheist like me, how is that supposed to be a valid argument? Within the community, it’s easy to say that you are higher than outside institutions, but you still have to justify your point in relation to the outside world.

He failed to do so.

He pointed out that he didn’t agree one hundred percent with any political party, so that wouldn’t be his deciding factor. That’s fine if gay marriage or general gay rights isn’t your deciding factor.

But what about to those to who gay marriage is one of the many deciding factors, as it is for so many young people today?

Andrew Kletzien is a copy editor. He can reached at akletzien@luc.edu.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com by arhadetruit. We are told that being sexual is part of human nature.

By Barbara Crowley
Chameleon Staff Writer

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of the persons quoted in this article chose to remain anonymous or to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons. The views and opinions expressed in this particular piece do not reflect those of the LUChameleon editorial staff, or Loyola University Chicago.]

Do you “charm the cobra,” “clean your rifle,” “crown the king,” “shake hands with Abe Lincoln,” or “walk the dog”?

Perhaps you “go mining,” “grope the grotto,” “hitchhike to heaven,” “squeeze the peach,” or “surf the channel.”

Whether you “jack or jill off” in your spare time, you must have questions about what all the other boys and girls prefer.

Masturbation is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, but why?

A lot (and I mean a lot) of people masturbate. Why shouldn’t they?

Sexually stimulating images are constantly parading around in the media, arts, and our own minds. We are told sexuality is a part of being a human being. We seem to have mostly accepted that sex is a natural response to our urges and desires.

So, why is masturbation so rarely discussed, especially with women?

Interviewee Lilly, who said she “never masturbates” explained, “Masturbation is one of those things. You’re not sure if everyone else does it. It isn’t talked about enough to be a comfortable subject.”

I’m going to talk about masturbation: who does it, when they do it, how they do it, why they do it and the process of finding a spare moment of privacy to do it.

I discussed all of these issues with a handful of people: some heterosexual, some homosexual, some women, some men, some in a relationship, and others not.

What I found was a comforting and beautiful truth: most of us masturbate, and it’s okay.

Five of the six interviewees said they masturbated and most on an average of three to four times a week; one anonymous interviewee admitted they masturbated “at least every other day… gotta make the rounds.”

Four of the six readily admitted that they watched porn to get in “the mood,” and two of those four were girls. The shock I felt was deep.

After discussing with all of them how masturbation was difficult to talk about and “awkward,” they all began to enjoy discussing their habits, turn-ons, and processes, (especially when I readily admitted that I myself masturbate and am quite unashamed of it).

All of my interviewees who admitted to masturbation also declared (most quite proudly) they watched porn to “get off,” except Mahrie (my only interviewee in a relationship) who thought of her boyfriend.

A lot of the people I talked to were curious about the masturbatory experience in college, so I asked.

It seems having a roommate hasn’t stopped any of my fellow masturbators in their efforts. Most of them simply make sure no one is home.

At college that [making sure no one is home] is “easier” as interviewee Mahrie explained, because we all have basically “set schedules.”

Lock the doors, shut the blinds, and turn down the volume, right? Not necessarily.

One of my anonymous interviewees said he sometimes didn’t even take that precaution. If his roommate were asleep or in the other room, he would take those particular opportunities.

Although this is not necessarily the common case, I was proud to hear the unashamed declaration.

The problem exists that a lot of us are ashamed and uncomfortable not only with discussing but also performing the deed.

I am not saying that I think masturbation is the key or answer to anything, nor am I claiming not masturbating is unnatural somehow.

However, this is an issue because I do believe masturbation is a natural reaction to our sex drives, and I believe we should be comfortable with our bodies or how we experience them.

An anonymous interviewee admitted he felt “guilty… right after” each masturbatory experience.

What was odd was that all of my interviewees, including this anon, declared, and unabashedly, that they had sex.

Each person I interviewed saw a huge difference between sex and masturbation (other than the number of people involved).

The difference between the two seemed to be this “stigma attached” that Hannah pointed out; many of my interviewees believe that the subject is taboo.

Another anonymous interviewee claimed it was because sex was “more personal.”

However, in my previous article, I learned the more personal a sexual experience is the less comfortable they felt with sharing it.

So, why is the supposedly least personal sexual experience never discussed?

Perhaps the issue is that no one knows who masturbates or how they truly feel about it.

Perhaps everyone is walking around needing to discuss their latest “go at it” but not sure whether it [the experience] will be received well.

To those of you who feel this way, I have written this piece for you.

The message, if you haven’t taken it away yet, is that masturbation is common and it is okay to talk about it.

Masturbation is common, so stop being so awkward about it.

Declare it loud and proud now. I masturbate, and I’m okay with it.

One more time! I masturbate and I’m okay with it! There… don’t you feel better?

To contact Barbara Crowley, email her at bcrowley@luc.edu.

Good morning, afternoon, and evening lovelies.  I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as I assume all of you are, or as wonderful as I am.  Which is pretty fricken wonderful, by the way.

In honor of the special occasion that just passed, I’ll be writing about something very near and dear to us all.  Birthday sex.  If you’re anything like me, the entire week leading up to, week of, and week after is your birthday, so birthday sex is something that you look forward to for awhile.

My girl’s birthday just passed (I know you all just wished her a Happy Birthday out loud), so naturally I must write about birthday sex.  A wise man once said, “Birthday sex, birthday sex, it’s the best day of the year (girl).”  And he’s damn right.   Birthday sex is sex that is ALL ABOUT YOU.

Why? Because it’s your birthday, unless you and your significant other share a birthday, in which case your life sucks.  Just kidding… not really.  Of course, birthday gifts are wonderful, but what we all really think about is what’s going to come (pun intended) when all your friends have left, and the lights are finally turned off.

Or left on, or maybe your friends haven’t even left yet, doesn’t matter.  And why is that everyone?  Because it’s your birthday.  I’m glad we’re all catching on to the main thesis of “birthday sex.”  My girl is a bedroom, lights off, kinda gal.

And I ain’t even mad.  Leaving details on a need to know basis, at least for now, I’ll let y’all know that her birthday sex was perfect.

With that said my little cherubs, peace, love, and cherry bombs.  Remember no glove, no love.  Get yourselves tested, you crazy kids.  And have fun, it is sex after all.

If you have any birthday sex stories, or any stories, I’m all about hearing them.  Send anything you want to NotSoWhisperWednesdays3@gmail.com.

Catch the “Not-So-Whisper Wednesday” sex blog posts every Wednesday.

By Jay S.
Chameleon Sex Blogger

Before coming to Loyola I was unsure of whether or not I wanted to be ‘out’.  I was not out in high school.  I had only told one friend.  I was worried that maybe I would run into the same non-accepting people out here in Chicago that I had grown up with back home.

I knew I wanted to stop lying though and live my life open and honest with people.

For the first week of school I had managed to avoid the issue all together.  No one had asked me anything about dating or my sexual orientation.  Then unexpectedly one day a girl on my floor said, “I thought you were gay the first time I met you.”

She said this in a way that her impression of me had changed.  That somehow by getting to know me I became ‘straighter’.  I then had an internal battle with how to respond to this.  She then said, “Wait, are you gay?”

For some reason I had always dreaded this question in high school.  I was still working on accepting it myself and didn’t want people to put further judgment on me just for being gay.

I was sick of lying though and so in this very moment, a week into school, barely knowing whom this girl was, I said “yes.”  She then didn’t react at all and just moved on to the next subject, as if it was no big deal at all.

For some reason telling one more person what had been such a secret for so long, really freaked me out.  My world started spinning and I literally almost fainted.  I had to take some deep breaths and recuperate.  Looking back on this it sounds so silly that I reacted in such a way, but I did.

From there it progressively became easier to tell people and eventually I became comfortable with talking openly about it.  It’s a brand new feeling for me and I love it.  People at Loyola are so much more accepting and open to homosexuality.

I still feel like I am in some sort of strange bubble out here in Chicago though.  Because I know when I go home it will not be the same and that I will run into people who are not ok with the fact that I am gay.

I have still yet to tell my one sibling, my sister.  We get along very well and I don’t really have a good reason why I have not told her.  I guess I am just worried that me coming out could possibly affect the relationships she has with her friends who come from families that are very homophobic.

But I plan on telling here the next time I am home.  It only makes sense that someone so important to me knows.  This will be my next step in my coming out process.  Then, I will have to focus on telling my other friends back at home.

Catch blogger Jay S. and his sex blog every Monday.

I’m openly in love with girls, and I am a girl. Which makes me gay. I, however, don’t mind boys.

Which would make me bisexual? I don’t really know the answer to that, and nor am I about to give any of you guys a straightforward answer.

Since this is the first official posting for “Not So Whisper Wednesdays” it’s only appropriate for me to discuss the “first time.”

My first time was with a girl. It was in the last row of the movie theater near my house, and it was to the lovely acting styles of Robin Williams.

Not the most romantic setting for what is supposed to be the most romantic event of your life right? I didn’t care. And neither did she, obviously.

In all honesty, your first time with someone isn’t always going to be the time that you want to remember for the rest of your life.

But, you will remember it. If anything it is something to learn from.

And I don’t just mean learn in a metaphorical after school special kind of way, I mean literally learn. There is no reason for y’all to not get better in the art.

There are millions of reasons for having sex with someone.

Maybe you’re taking the Britney Spears/Justin Long approach from the wonderful movie “Crossroads” and you just don’t want to be the only virgin in college.

Or you’re something out of ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of an American Teenager” and that one time at band camp was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up.

Regardless of what your reasoning is, you did it.

Everyone does. It’s sex. I do it, my girlfriend does it (with me preferably), you do it, and most importantly, our parents all did it (what a great image for us all).

And it’s not something to be ashamed of.

So what if your first time was in the back of a movie theater, in a dark bedroom, or on the playground of your local elementary school.

It was your first, and hopefully not your last time.

It’s a time to remember, and for some, forget.

If you, my little cherubs, would like to send me your first time experience, or anything for that matter, send it to NotSoWhisperWednesdays3@gmail.com.

Remember: no glove, no love. And get yourselves tested, you crazy kids.

“Not-So-Whisper Wednesdays” is a sex blog published anonymously by one of the Chameleon staff writers every Wednesday. Opinions and views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the LUChameleon editorial staff or its contributors, Loyola’s School of Communication, or Loyola University Chicago.

By Jay S.
Chameleon Sex Blogger 

So this is the very first blog I have ever written.  I always thought about writing but never did it.

I guess I should start off by telling you a little about myself and about my goals for this blog.

My intent is to share with you all of my personal stories during my freshman year and maybe give advice along the way, or something to laugh at, or even something to relate to.

So a little more about me: I am a freshman. I am from Colorado. I am currently 18 years old. I am currently a theater major. I am a people pleaser. I love pasta, and I just recently added the phrase “I’m gay” to my vocabulary.

I wasn’t always able to say those words either.  Only in my head could I say it.  It was almost taboo to say something like that out loud where I was from.  I didn’t know any out and gay kids at my high school. Zero.  Of course there were a few I had suspected to be gay, after all I was in the theater department, but no one had the courage to tell anyone.

I didn’t have the courage myself either.  Everyone wants acceptance in high school.  So to avoid any conflicts I kept to myself about my sexuality for most of high school.  I’m from that classic “small-town community.”  Now I don’t have the horror stories that some may have, but it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park either.

People always want to know “How long have you known you were gay?”  It’s different for everyone, that much I know.  For me though, I knew at a pretty early age.  I started realizing I was attracted to guys in 5^th grade.

I had two friends in 5^th grade named Steven and Luke.  We would always hang out before and after school. Steven was my first gay crush.  At the age I recognized that my feeling towards him was different than anyone else.

Now eventually I plan on giving you my full-length story of what happened from 5^th grade to now, but to keep this post from getting to long, I’ll tell my story in a later post.

I want this blog to be relatable to freshman in general.  I plan on adding my trials and tribulations of the transition I made from high school to Loyola, which I’m sure several students could relate to.

I hope that those of you reading this find my blog interesting, helpful, and entertaining.

Thanks for giving this a read.

Catch blogger Jay S. and his sex blog every Monday.

Photo Illustration By Emily Bruns/The Chameleon. Bullying does not only stem from words but from actions as well.

By Megan Hazelwood
Chameleon Staff Writer

Recently, a considerable amount of teenagers and young adults have taken their lives due to amounts of bullying from their peers. In the last couple of years, statistics have shot up to alarming rates.

According to the organization Beatbullying, 87 percent of parents said their kids were subject to bullying within the last 12 months. Bullying does not only stem from words but from actions as well.

According to the National Bullying survey, more than half of the bullied victims reported being physically hurt and 34 percent of those physically harmed needed medical attention.

Another factor contributing to bullying and suicide is the victims’ sexual orientation. According to The 2011 Social Environment and Suicide Attempts in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth survey, from the journal Pediatrics, homosexual and bisexual teenagers were more likely to attempt suicide compared to heterosexual teenagers (21.5 percent versus 4.2 percent).

One of the most recent cases is the death of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer. Rodemeyer was a student at Buffalo Junior High School who revealed he was bisexual and was being bullied at school because of that.

Due to the immense amount of bullying he suffered, Rodemeyer took his life in September 2011. Many citizens were enraged about yet another suicide due to bullying.

Pop sensation Lady Gaga openly voiced her anger about Rodemeyer’s death by tweeting, “The past days I’ve spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone’s life.” Gaga went as far as to promise a meeting with President Obama to create a law that will make bullying illegal.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Rodemeyer’s suicide is that he was an active supporter of the organization It Gets Better. The organization encourages LGBTQA youth to be themselves by producing videos that let teens know that, “It gets better.”

The organization has 465,675 people who pledged to spread the word that “it gets better.” Multiple celebrities, such as Perez Hilton, Ke$ha and Justin Bieber, have made support videos for struggling youth.

Beatbullying is an organization based out of the United Kingdom that stands up against bullying by working with kids through a number of different programs such as the CyberMentors, BBMusic and FutureYou.

If you or anyone you know feels bullied or you want to help out the cause, you can visit Beatbullying at beatbullying.org and It Gets Better at itgetsbetter.org. Loyola’s Wellness Center also provides students with information.

To contact Megan Hazelwood, email her at mhazelwood@luc.edu.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons, flickr.com/graciehagen. The SlutWalk movement gives victims a voice.

By Nicole Creguer
Chameleon Staff Writer

The word “slut” has been around for centuries. It is meant as a derogatory insult primarily toward women.

Nowadays, however, women are protesting for the right to be called a slut in peaceful protest marches called “SlutWalks.”

The SlutWalk movement started in Ontario, Canada in January 2011. Policeman Michael Sanguinetti proclaimed at an NYU campus-safety forum, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

This statement was met with much dissent and inspired more than 3,000 people to march in Toronto weeks later.

Some protestors wore normal attire, while others dressed up in revealing outfits in order to draw attention to “slut-shaming,” or the phenomenon of placing blame on victims of rape.

Protestors assert that this movement is part of a larger “rape culture,” in which we live: a culture that teaches, “don’t get raped” instead of “don’t rape.”

Sanguinetti later apologized for his words, but not until after he had inspired SlutWalks in more than 50 cities, including Chicago.

The founders of SlutWalk, Sonya JF Barnett and Heather Jarvis, express their opinion on their website: “Historically, the term ‘slut’ has carried a predominantly negative connotation. Whether dished out as a serious indictment of one’s character or merely as a flippant insult, the intent behind the word is always to wound, so we’re taking it back.”

They go on to say, “[The word] ‘slut’ is being re-appropriated.”

They cite the reworking of the word “queer” from a derogatory term into an identifier of the LGBT community.

The main goal of SlutWalks is not only to change the meaning of “slut,” but also to bring awareness to sexual assault issues.

Jarvis says, “The idea that there is some aesthetic that attracts sexual assault or even keeps you safe from sexual assault is inaccurate, ineffective and even dangerous.”

Many marchers are seen carrying signs with messages like “Proud Slut” or “It’s my hot body, I do what I want.”

Others, however, take a more somber tone, with one that reads, “It was Christmas day. I was 14 and raped in a stairwell wearing showshoes and layers. Did I deserve it, too?”

However, not everyone is supportive of this new feminist movement.

Gail Dines and Wendy J Murphy, writers from the British newspaper The Guardian claim that, “Whether we blame the victims by calling them ‘sluts’ (who thus asked to be raped), or by calling them ‘frigid’ (who thus secretly want to be overpowered) the problem is that we’re blaming them for their own victimization no matter what they do. Encouraging women to be more ‘sluttish’ will not change this ugly reality.”

Still, the movement seems to be growing, now taking place across the globe in places like Australia, Singapore, and New Delhi.

“Not everyone has to chant ‘I’m a slut and I’m proud,’” says co-founder of the movement, Siobhan Conners.

“No matter how you identify yourself even if you consider yourself a sexual person, we’d like to have anyone who is supportive of creating a more positive environment for women and believes that rape shouldn’t be permitted.”

To contact Nicole Creguer, email her at ncreguer@luc.edu.

Illustration By Barbara Crowley/The Chameleon. Many feel that sex is a taboo subject and are uncomfortable talking about it.

By Barbara Crowley
Chameleon Staff Writer 

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of the persons quoted in this article chose to remain anonymous or to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect those of the LUChameleon editorial staff.]

Sex.

We think about it while we sit in class, browse online, and walk around campus. Most of us have it, some incredibly frequently and others rarely, some while in a relationship and others with complete strangers.

Sex excites and makes us feel good. Why is sex taboo? If we all either have it or think about it regularly, and if we insert it into every aspect of media possible, then why can’t we discuss it freely without a blush or shocked response? I find that there are many who do not discuss this aspect of their lives with their families or friends.

Yes, sex is an intimate act, physically and sometimes emotionally too. However, we talk much more freely about our sexualities and who we have sex with than our actual sex and how we like to have sex. Why is what we do during sex more uncomfortable to talk about than who we do during sex?

When I began to look for people to interview, I found many were not willing to discuss their sexual experiences publicly, even if they were to be kept anonymous. This gave me the idea that I was not going to find people who would discuss sex freely. But I did. I interviewed various people who had completely different sexual experiences and preferences about how they share them.

What is interesting is that all willingly gave up their sexuality, or who they have sex with. Many of them said they were quite open with their sexuality, but some had reservations about sharing other aspects of their sexual experiences with others, or how they like to have sex. Some are anonymous, while others are quite open with their identity and every aspect of themselves sexually.

My audience ranged from “straight” Luisa Blanco who boldly stated, as if it was nothing bold at all, that she was “extremely open with [her] friends and siblings and would often even directly announce when [she] was horny or had recently had sex” to “gay” Tom Brown who responded that he divulged “none” of his sexual experiences with people, saying he was “not comfortable talking about it” because “someone else is involved and that makes it an incredibly personal, shared experience between the two of you.”

I was truly intrigued by this idea of a shared experience and secrecy due to lack of consent that “gay” Glenn Bush remarked upon, saying, “It would have felt weird to talk about it without the other person’s consent.” On this subject, Tom and Glenn seemed to agree.

Glenn said that though she was “an open book about [her] sexual experiences,” she said it also depended on “the person and the relationship.”

“If it’s like ‘make love’ sex, I’m not gonna talk about it [something] that personal, because sex can be physical or emotional or both,” she explained.

There seemed to be a huge distinction between the sex that was “just physical” and “personal, intimate, emotionally connected sex.” My question: “Shouldn’t the emotionally connected sex be easier to discuss since it seems more widely accepted than physical sex based on an animalistic need?”

My anonymous source explained, “I think that people nowadays don’t have that much emotionally connected sex. A lot of people in college are not trying to be in a relationship or trying to tie in emotion.”

It seems sex is becoming much more widely accepted as this natural and physical need. In response to this attitude toward physical sex being common, intimate and emotional sex seems to have become more cherished rather than, as some may believe, dismissed.

Another intriguing topic that came to light was our unwillingness to share with our parents the details of our sex lives. I do not think I am totally ready to divulge my intimates to my mother and learn the intimates of her life with my stepfather or father. No, thank you. But I was still wondering why this was. Why do we have this one major limit in our relationship with our parents?

There seemed to be a generally accepted belief that it was uncomfortable and embarrassing but why? What about our physical sexual lives make it off limits to our parents? Luisa brought to light how “honest” and “physical” sex was, but if so, I wondered why this honesty and intimacy could not to be shared with the people who were honest and physical in the first place to create us? Luisa explained that it [discussing the topic of sex] was “just a boundary [between your parents] and unspoken limit you had.”

It seemed we came to a standstill in this subject, until Tom and a “gay” anon I was speaking with agreed on an interesting theory. Tom suggested it was our view of our parents and their view of us that makes us uncomfortable with that level of intimacy and vulnerability.

“I see my parents on this whole other level,” he said. ”I look up to them as role models and thinking about them in that vulnerable way…”

My anon added that, “Our parents see us as their children. They will always see us as their innocent, pure, blissfully ignorant babies.”

I became intrigued in this idea of sex, this vulnerable experience, as an equalizer. Not only does the sex act itself equalizes, but the discussion of sex. Glenn so eloquently brought to light the idea that it is not that we do not discuss sex because it is “taboo” or “shameful.”  The type of sex my interviewees kept to themselves was the sex that they cherished.

Perhaps this idea that we are a generation who abuses sexuality is wrong. Perhaps we are actually a generation who sees the truth behind sex, that all of us have it, for the most part, and it can be had in different ways. Sometimes sex is emotional, entangled with love, and needs to be cherished and not demeaned in graphic detail. But other times, sex is like any physical act, one we discuss because it is a part of our lives.

To contact Barbara Crowley, email her at bcrowley@luc.edu.