There I sat with two hip college women feeling like the gray-haired principal who barged into the girl’s bathroom unannounced.
For goodness’ sake. It is not as if I caught them smoking.
It was just a little bit of harmless erotica that these two University of Chicago student editors produced.
But if I was truly OK with their popular artsy sex magazine, Vita Excolatur, why did I keep averting my eyes from the magazine’s glossy pages?
As I learned, Vita Excolatur (which loosely means “life enriched” in Latin) is a pictorial and literary X-rated publication that rips to pieces the dull image of the University of Chicago.
With featured photos such as “Hot Girls Reading Books” and such columns as “The Kinky Mystic,” the student government-approved, student-run magazine is a playful look at a university that has such a bookish reputation it was dubbed on T-shirts as the place “Where Fun Comes to Die.”
Published in a 750-copy limited edition three times a year since 2004, Vita Excolatur often walks a tightrope between racy but artistic images and hard-core sexual content, throwing into the mix bits of poetry, opinion and a potpourri of reports on everything from abstinence to faking orgasms. The magazine sells for $2 on campus and at some Hyde Park shops, and back issues are available on the Vita Web site/blog for prices varying from $6 to $8.”We know we are known as the ugly school and the school that doesn’t have fun,” said Charlotte Rutherfurd, a public policy major who will be a senior this fall and who is the magazine’s president. “We both acknowledge it, poke fun at it and try to change it.”
The emergence of college sex magazines such as the U. of C.’s — which often are supported financially by student governments as recognized student organizations — first started gaining national attention in 1999 when Vassar College students started a magazine called Squirm.
Since then, sex magazines have cropped up at elite institutions from Yale to Harvard to Boston University.
The magazines include student-friendly information on sex, provocative columns opining about sex and titillating photo essays that often focus on what else — sex — and the publications have been a hit with students.
Vita, which averages about 30 pages, is funded by a modest $6,000 annually in student activities fees. It was created two years ago by a small group of U. of C. students who aimed at provoking discussion and “exploration” of sexuality, as well as just having fun, said Rutherfurd, a founding member.
“People may think the magazine is pornographic, but to me, pornography is more about pure arousal,” said Rutherfurd, who is administrative head of a student staff of 20. “What we produce may be arousing, but it also is there to make you think.”
“The magazine talks about how to do it, when to do it, that it is OK to do it,” added Sola Akintunde, the magazine’s university adviser who also is the campus’ assistant director of student activities. “It shows that being intellectual is attractive. They discuss everything from penis size to intimacy to safe sex; you name it.”
Experts say college students who grew up in a popular culture where racy television shows such as “Big Brother” and body-gyrating, bootylicious music videos are standard fare are pretty casual about their own sexuality.
Little controversy
But even though Vita has caused quite a buzz on campus, according to its editors and university officials, it has not been particularly controversial and so far, there has been little sign of strong opposition from parents or students.
Bill Michel, the U. of C.’s assistant vice president for student life, said university officials have worked to balance the Vita staff’s right to freedom of expression with such considerations as ensuring student models understand what they are getting into when they pose for photos and keeping an eye on how far the editors go with racy content.
Currently, the main university rule is that the magazine’s unpaid male and female models — virtually all of whom are U. of C. students — must be 18 and sign a consent form.
The models also are shown copies of their photos before they appear in print — a little extra insurance that allows them to back out if they have second thoughts about seeing themselves in the buff for perpetuity.
The magazine also includes a warning on the cover saying it is not suitable for those under 18.
Actually, the fledgling publication’s most serious challenge, according to Stephanie Mielcarek, who recently became the magazine’s editor in chief, has been pushing for more editorial freedom to use more explicit photographic images.
Vita’s most recent issue, published in May, has been its most risque yet, its editors say, with photographs that crossed the line set in previous editions, such as graphic photos of erections and sexual intercourse. Mielcarek and Rutherfurd said the latest issue represented a victory in their ongoing debates with university officials.
They also say they are proud of the impact the publication has had in sparking discussion about sexuality. Rutherfurd even admits to posing nude in the magazine herself.
Dad doesn’t know
But Mielcarek, a 21-year-old art history major, said sheepishly, “My dad doesn’t know I’m doing this.”
“A lot of people at one time thought pornography was objectifying,” Mielcarek added, now appearing a bit more bold. “I believe that girls now are more into taking charge, saying this is sexy and it is something I want to do.”
Chuck Kleinhans, an associate professor of radio, television and film at Northwestern University, has researched sexual representation. He says it is not surprising that the two student editors see their magazine as promoting a smart, sexy image.
“I think our culture today — especially with blogs and a very open online culture — there is some shifting in the boundaries in sexual representation,” Kleinhans said.
On the other hand, Midge L. Wilson, a professor at DePaul University, said the jury in still out.
“There is a real question as to whether this sort of thing is empowering to women or the same old objectification that women fought against,” she said.
University officials have largely put few rules on other similar magazines.
Dain Lewis, the student publisher of Sex Week at Yale: The Magazine, touts his publication as focused on “providing useful information” and says it shows much less skin than some of its sister publications.
“Classiness is something we are extremely concerned about,” Lewis said by phone. “At every point along the way, I think about if I can justify this with my mom, then I am in good shape.”
But does his mom approve of the magazine?
“Please, I, uh, I don’t want to get into trouble or anything,” he said.
Vita Excolatur is just about being edgy, provocative and fun, said Tynan Kelly, a 19-year-old San Francisco native who has served both as a model and model coordinator for the magazine.
“Some people think there is too much sex in the media, but I think we are looking at sex in a different way,” said Kelly, a sophomore. “We are not chauvinistic at the magazine. We show both men and women, and we are not just trying to be explicit. We simply explore why people enjoy sex.”
Nonetheless, he conceded that his parents don’t know about his modeling gig. “But I made sure all my friends at home saw it,” he said with a laugh.
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From the steamy pages of Vita Excolatur
Charlotte Rutherfurd, Vita’s president, has taken on a variety of issues in the Letter from the Editor section of the magazine.
Here are a few excerpts from several editions:
(Fall 2005)
“Last week, I went to the Admissions office to peddle smut. Or, more exactly, I headed over there to puddle [sic] this smut: I wanted Vita proudly displayed next to all the other campus publications, for the viewing pleasure of all perspective [sic] students and their parents. Needless to say, I was turned down with an upturned nose and the flick of the finger, by some fellow students no less, because: `they’re naked people in there!'” (Rutherfurd said recently that she did not complain directly to university officials about being turned away, but she says she should have done so.)
(Winter 2005/2006)
“This magazine strives to explore sex as we, a bunch of awkward 20-year-olds, see it. Both serving as an outlet and a form of guidance, we encourage sexual self-exploration as only U of C students know how: by theorizing, conceptualizing, and sometimes, letting it all hang out. . . . What the critics missed is that Vita’s purpose is not solely arousal or titillation. If it were, we would be porn. And we’re not porn — we’re too artsy for that.”
(Spring 2006, Rutherfurd describes an encounter with prospective students at a student organization informational fair. Some students refused offers of the Vita magazine.)
“It seemed like they were scared. The thought of showing a want for something controversial must be intimidating. … But that’s why Vita should exist in the first place — to make people feel uncomfortable. In fact, the whole reason Vita initially wanted to go hardcore was to explore the idea of sexuality. As we do more, literally, more people will probably be offended. Or shy. Go ahead, get squeamish. We like it like that.”
— Patrice M. Jones
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pjones@tribune.com
