Merriam-Webster defines sexuality as, “The sexual habits and desires of a person.” As a college student it seems as though this word shows up everywhere we look.

We hear it in our friend circles, from professors, our parents, the media and now in our campus newspaper. But are we really as sex-obsessed as society would have us believe, or is our generation just more open about the realities of dating and sex?

Though we assume our peers are having wild threesomes and one-night stands all while maintaining a steady relationship on the side, statistics show that quite the opposite is true.

For two decades Dr. Sandra Caron has collected data on sex and college life, and her findings couldn’t be clearer. 56 percent of college students think they’ve had fewer partners than their peers, while just 10 percent think they have had more partners than their college peers.

Further complicating things are the sexuality myths we all hear. To name a few: women are less interested in sex than men, men can’t enjoy sex unless they have an erection, vaginal penile sex is the only act that qualifies as getting laid, and the list goes on and on.

These myths are more frequently spread than the truth. Luckily for men and women alike, that’s all they are: myths. Women are quite the sexual beings, foreplay can be pleasurable and exciting without the presence of an erection, and getting laid is defined by each person’s own definition.

Add on the damage and misinformation that abstinence-only and PSI (postpone sexual involvement) sex education present, (which is a topic deserving of its own column) the issue becomes more clouded and harder to talk about openly.

Further complicating things are the different views available when it comes to sexuality. There’s the biblical viewpoint that states sex is between a man and a women and done only as an act of procreating.

The feminist viewpoint that sexuality can be empowering for women when chosen freely, or the modern viewpoint that suggests sex is something that’s done in protest of the generations before us. Viewing sexuality through any of these only further compounds the issue.

With all this confusion it’s easy to see why the topic of sexuality can be taboo and why it’s easier to assume that our peers are enjoying wild and crazy sexual escapades while we sit in our dorm room and study.

What would happen if we actually talked about sex? What if we asked questions and weren’t afraid of the possible reactions (or lack there of) our peers might have?

My hope is that we can break down the barriers, squash the myths, and begin to understand that sexuality and its meaning is something unique to each individual.