A website for college women growing in popularity offers topics regarding casual sex, protecting Facebook profiles from employers or being an annoying drunk.
Collegecandy.com, created in 2007, strives to produce relatable content for girls at college campuses all throughout the country. The articles of College Candy are written by students and for students, with a goal to generate more honest and raw content.
College Candy Intern and MU senior Lauren Yanow said the website serves as a forum for women to get advice and answers to topics they normally avoid talking about, such as sexually transmitted infections and bedroom antics.
“We’re really not afraid to talk about the topics that people want to hear about but might not ask about,” Yanow said. “Those things like sensitive subjects that girls need to know about and might not know where to look.”
Although College Candy tends to focus on a national fan-base, it is making some local connections. Since January, College Candy has increased its presence on the MU campus. Yanow has created a Twitter for College Candy at MU and hosted a local event called “Martinis and Manicures.”
“(College Candy) doesn’t have a program with a Twitter for any other schools,” Yanow said. “Hopefully it will be really successful here and they’ll want to take it other places.”
Freshman Carly Sedberry became a fan after College Candy started following her on Twitter.
“It’s a good way for all college girls to sort of communicate and interact with each other and share things that we can all find interesting and informing,” Sedberry said.
Although much of the website focuses on relationships, fashion and partying, the website is open to including all topics.
“Anybody is welcome to apply to be a writer, whether you are a typical sorority girl, or you’re a student athlete,” Editor-in-Chief Lauren Herskovic said. “Whoever you are, you’re more than welcome to come and send us your writing sample or submit stories, and we try and publish everybody across the board.”
Herskovic said sex and relationships is the most popular section, however, it faces some controversy. On College Candy’s current homepage, the first few articles include “Can We Stop the Slut Shaming Now?” and “Sexy Time: Opening the Back Door.”
“There’s also a lot of people on there who feel that we shouldn’t be talking about sex and that people shouldn’t be having sex,” Herskovic said. “Everyone seems to have a love/hate relationship with it.”
College Candy features a slideshow titled “The 10 Glorious Ways to Drink a Beer,” but also includes articles on topical issues relating to women’s health.
“He Said/She Said: The Birth Control Issue” addresses how men expect women to use birth control. The author, who was not on birth control, said her boyfriend did not even have condoms because expected her to be taking birth control. She calls out to men to start communicating with women so women are not either forced onto the pill or into motherhood.
Students have the opportunity to decide the content and therefore the tone of the website.
“We wanted to be the destination where a girl from college can go to get pretty much anything she wanted, whether it advice for classes or trying to transition to college life,” Herskovic said.
