The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 27, 1985-- Page'3
HEALTH
&
FITNESS
Students, experts dislike sex game
By MARY CHRIS JAKLEVIC
Doctor Ruth's Game of Good Sex is
the latest medium for the much-
iheralded sex therapist of the airwaves
to dole out her pointblank advice.
But despite Westheimer's success
on her cable television and radio
shows, University students and
professionals who were asked their
opinion of the game find little to like
about it.
THE GAME is of the Trivial Pursuit
genre, with a few added complexities
and a lingo all its own. The object is
for couples to gain enough "arousal
points" while traveling through a
series of ring-shaped tracks to get into
the center oval ("The Act") and
finally reach the "Mutual Pleasure,
circle at the center of the board.
Along the way players answer
questions from three stacks of cards
which ask true/false or multiple
choice questions and give arousal
points.
But despite the alluring com-
bination of a hot-property media star
and tantalizing subject matter, all
packaged in a bright blue box, a group
of University students who played the
game concluded that it was neither
fun nor helpful.
The students agreed that the game
was unchallenging and tedious, and
that the questions are ambiguous and
subject to many qualifications.
"THE ANSWERS are not based on
fact. Instead they ask 'What would
this woman's opinion be?'" said
Mark Markel, an electrical
engineering graduate student who
played the game.
The students agreed that many of
the questions were just plain silly.
One card asked what a man should
do if his girlfriend's breath turns him
off. One of the possible answers given
is "Keep a breathmint within reach of
the bed and pop it into her mouth
. during foreplay."
"If you are a couple who has known
each other a long time the whole thing
is silly; but if you haven't known each
other for a long time, you might not
feel comfortable playing it together,"
another player, engineering graduate
Jennie Cook, said.
THE STUDENTS said that too
game."
Dr. Marshall Shearer, a
psychiatrist and sex therapist who
practices in Ann Arbor, said he
doesn't like the game.
"It seems crass - and that's a per-
sonal bias. People who are ill-
informed might get something out of
it, but it's not a systematic kind of
presentation...It's only a question
here and a question there."
FACTUALLY, Shearer has quibbles
with only a few of the questions. "Things
that are very specific innature - that
information is very valuable, but it's
not a rounded presentation - and it
doesn't intend to be."
Dr. Sylvia Hacker, assistant
professor in the schools of nursing and
public health, teaches a graduate
course in human sexuality and family
health.
Hacker has mixed feelings about
the game. She likes the game in that it
legitimizes a variety of sexual
behavior, including homosexuality,
and it could open up communication
between couples.
But Hacker also found problems
with the game.
"I FIND that some of the answers to
the questions are too glib and use
labels too much.They don't take into
account a large variety of normal
behavior. They seem to focus only on
extremes."
One question Hacker didn't like
asked if "Most men get wildly excited
when looking at a woman's feet." The
answer says this is false and that
"Some men are attracted to women's
feet and develop fetishes, which can
interfere with sexual relationships."
"A person can be turned on by feet
without being a fetishist - that is
without it interfering with a normal
relationship," Hacker said.
Hacker also doesn't like the em-
phasis the game places on intercour-
se.
"THE ASSUMPTION behind this
game is that the ultimate in sex
equals intercourse... I'm saying that
people can enjoy their sexuality
without necessarily having inter-
course...We should be concentrated
more on other pleasures," Hacker
said.
Hacker agreed with Shearer that
many of the questions and answers
are not complete in themselves.
"Some of (the questions) only need
the short answers, and that's good;
but some of them need a little
discussion, and examples, and
training...I do think there should be a
person around who can discuss the
value issues...Some of these are much
larger issues than the answers would
indicate."
According to Crown House Gifts
Manager Carol Homkes, the game
has been selling well at the store,
which was one of the first in the coun-
try to receive the game last month.
The price is $24.95.
"Most people just pick it up and look
at it," Homkes said. "I think the morst
prohibitive part is the price, but
(Westheimer) is a very recognble
character, so they do look at it."
The students added that though the
game is designed for two to four
couples to play in teams, players don't
have to play in couples, and it might
even be more useful to play with a
group of all men or all women.
Koch said that Victory Games A is
revising the rules of the game for
future editions in order to accom-
modate play between two partners.
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Daily Photo by DEAN RANDAZZO
Students and professional sex therapists aren't excited about Dr. Ruth
Westheimer's new sexual trivia game now being sold at local stores.
much time is taken up moving the
pieces around the gameboard, rather
than answering questions.
"It was about as entertaining as
watching 'Three's Company,' " said
Markel.
Susan Koch, marketing ad-
ministrator of Victory Games, Inc.,
the New York firm which produced
'the game, said the purpose of the
game is "to help educate people in a
fun kind of format."
Koch said Westheimer "had a lot to
do with the game. It was her idea, and
she came to us with it."
"PEOPLE WHO like Dr. Ruth will
like the game. Like Dr. Ruth's show,
the game is not confined to any age
group or social bracket," Koch said.
The students agreed that the game
might be useful for younger teenagers
to learn about sex, but, Markel said,
"For college educated students there
is no use for it, even as a fun party
330 Maynard - Directly Across From Nickel's Arcade
Whtat's
( Happening
.
Recreational Sports
HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING
- but remember -
IM Wrestling Meet Weigh-Ins
Tuesday, December 3, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., IMSS
WRESTLING MEET
Tuesday - Thursday, December 3-5
7:00 - 11:00 p.m. Sports Coliseum
'U' dorms breed flu outbreaks
By LISA PICK
and NANCY DINER Sometimes Health Service must even
Feeling a little under the weather call in help from the School of Public
lately? If you live in a University Health to handle the holiday flu rush,
residence hall, you're probably not says Caesar Briefer, Health Service
the only one feeling sick, although director.
everyone is prone to illness as flu BUT ACTUALLY, there is little one
season hits, say University health can due either to prevent the flu or to
officials. combat it once it has struck. Some flu
vaccines are available to help
Starting in mid-November and con- mitigate the symptoms but these
tinuing until the end of December, should only be administered to people
students flock to University Health age 65 or older or to those who suffer
Service in a desperate attempt to rid from chronic illnesses such as kidney
themselves of a hacking cough, runny disorders or diabetes, Briefer says.
nose, and other annoying symptoms. However, there is still no cure for
HAPPENINGS
0 Highlight
Students from the Center for Russian and East European Studies are
invited to hear Donna Winkelman, the Coordinator of Career Planning
and Placement Services for area studies center students, discuss how her
office can help them plan careers in their field. Winkelman will speak at
noon in the Commons room, Lane Hall.
Films
Michigan Theater Foundation - Clockwork Orange, 7 & 9:35 p.m.,
Michigan Theater.
Performances
Ark - Open mike night, hootenany, 8 p.m., 637 S. Main.
School of Music - Organ recital, Ron Fox, 8 p.m., Recital Hall.
Speakers
Biology - Michael Bowers, "Local Bumble Bee Geography," noon,
room 1139, Nat. Sci. Bldg.
Chemistry - Katherine McGrady, "Polymeric Crown Ethers and
Their Applications to Organic Synthesis," 4 p.m., room 1300, Chemistry
Bldg.
Meetings
Dissertation Support Group - 1:30 p.m., room 3100, Union.
Ensian Yearbook - 7 p.m., Student Publications Bldg.
Michigan Gay Union - 9 p.m., 802 Monroe.
Science Fiction Club - Stilyagi Air Corps, 8:15 p.m., League.
Student Counseling Services - Adult children of Alcoholic Parents,
10:30 a.m.
viral diseases such as the flu, which is
usually spread through bodily
secretions and through coughing and
sneezing, he says.
The best thing a roommate or friend
can do for a flu victim is to give them
plent of "TLC" (Tender Loving Care)
and chicken noodle soup, says Briefer.
Because of the cramped living
situations in dormitories, flu viruses
often spread faster than in other
populations.
TWO WEEKS ago, showing up Nov.
8, an outbreak of stomach flu was
reported at West Quad.
Bob Spezia, an Adams House
resident advisor, reported four sick
students on his floor alone. At least
five others on different floors of
Adams House also contracted the
ailment.
Most of these students became sick
on Friday with headaches, nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and
stomach cramps, which lasted from
one to two days.
Says engineering sophomore John
Bradford, an Adams House resident: "I
threw up twice an hour from 7 p.m.
Friday night until 4 a.m. Saturday
morning."
Bradford says he drank water and
slept but couldn't eat until Saturday
afternoon, when the symptoms began
to subside.
LSA junior Jerry Wolf, an Allen-
Rumsey House resident advisor who
became ill, says he thought it may
have been something other than the
flu. "I think it's an awful coincidence
that a lot of people got sick when they
ate the same thing," he says.
But a test of food samples from Nov.
9 to Nov. 15 could prove no evidence of
a foodborne illness, according to of-
ficials at the University's Oc-
cupational Safety and Environmental
PALAL TREE
RESTAURANT
Health department.
OUTBREAKS of the flu in dor-
mitories are not uncommon, says
South Quad Building Director Mary
Antieau. She cited an outbreak oc-
curring in South Quad in 1978 which
resulted in 300 to 400 students repor-
ting flu-like symptoms.
In the 1978 outbreak, Antieau
recalls, food from the cafeteria, and
feces and vomit from sick students
were tested, along with just about
everything in the kitchen. But nothing
was found to indicate 'a foodborne
illness.
"I don't believe it was an outbreak
where the food was contaminated,"
says Antieau. "It was probably food
transmitted. Someone may have
sneezed on the lettuce."
Dormwide epidemics should not be
blamed on kitchen workers either, she
says. "Our standards of cleanliness
and maintaining temperature of the
food so that bacteria does not set in is
higher than most restaurants."
Food service employees mush wash
their hands after every coffee break,
and, if they are sick, they are not sup-
posed to come to work.
However, she adds, some come
even if they are sick because of the
money and a lack of sick days.
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