Gasping at Harvard students' sex lives? Survey also says 14% women were sexually assaulted on campus

Wait, what? “1 in 4 Harvard Grads Didn’t Have Sex in College,” gasps a TIME Magazine headline. It refers to a study published by The Harvard Crimson, a daily newspaper published by the university. Called the ‘Class of 2015, By The Numbers’, the study is a compilation of statistics from a survey conducted by the university and its students on various issues ranging from political beliefs and career aspirations to sexual preferences and romantic involvements. However, the idea that 25 percent of the university’s 2015 batch of graduates have not had sex while at college seems to have shocked TIME the most. So much so, that the article they put out resulted in Harvard University trending on Facebook world wide. It remained the top trend on Facebook almost throughout the day. [caption id=“attachment_2267762” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Harvard University. IBN Live.[/caption] According to the magazine, nearly half of the university’s 2015 batch had responded during the survey, making the results fairly representative. Curiously enough, Time, while reporting the survey, missed mentioning the fact that a similar survey conducted with the 2014 graduating batch revealed that  21 percent of the respondents were virgins. Sorry to spoil your surprise, or shock, but the lack of sexual activity among some students is not a new phenomenon in Harvard. In fact, it’s not a new phenomenon anywhere in the world - and 20-25 percent is a fairly believable percentage. As the world lets out a collective sigh over the tragic sex lives of the arguably brightest students of the generation, TIME and everyone else seems to have completely missed the issues that should have drawn bigger gasps than the sorry state of some of it’s student’s sex lives. For example, how about the fact that 14 percent of the women respondents have confessed to have faced sexual assault on campus? Now, the fact that a sliver of the university’s students have not gotten laid has become a cause for global concern also confirms the university’s popularity across the world. Now, in the same university, the fact that 14 percent of women respondents have alleged sexual assault, seems to have not drawn too many cries of outrage. In fact, we wonder if anyone has read beyond the TIME magazine’s headline. The study notes, “Fourteen percent of women in the Class of 2015 said they were sexually assaulted at Harvard, while another 7 percent said they were unsure whether or not they had been a victim of sexual violence. By comparison, just 3 percent of men reported being sexually assaulted. Those numbers are roughly consistent with an oft-cited 2007 study, which found that 19 percent of women at large four-year universities experienced a completed or attempted sexual assault during their time in college.” The 2014 survey states that 12 percent of the female respondents said that they had been sexually assaulted too. This means, sexual harassment and assault in the university has been a persistent problem; as persistent as not getting laid. Not just sexual violence, the survey, also revealed 74 percent of black students who responded to the survey have felt marginalised in the university due to their race. You can safely say, most of the black respondents felt ostracized because of their race - and this in an Ivy League university which claims to coach the best and brightest from across the world. Forty five percent of students who belong to alternative sexual groups and have taken part in the survey, have said that they felt marginalised in the institution. In fact, the new addition to the survey, compared to last year, were the questions about maginalisation, but it was the bit about the students’ sex lives which seems to have grabbed eyeballs more. Shocking? If Facebook ’trends’ are anything to go by, hardly.