Sexual activity was just one of a range of topics explored in The Crimson’s email survey of the incoming freshman class. The survey drew 1,311 respondents—nearly 80 percent of the Class of 2017—although not all of them completed every question on the survey. Exploring beliefs, anxieties, habits, and vices, the final installment of a four-part series on the survey’s results looks at how the newest members of the Harvard community live their lives when they are not building their resumes.
In 1941, Tolkien wrote a masterful letter to his son Michael, dealing with marriage and the realities of human sexuality. The letter reflects Tolkien's Christian worldview and his deep love for his sons, and at the same time, also acknowledges the powerful dangers inherent in unbridled sexuality. From the letter: This is a fallen world…. the dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall. The world has been 'going to the bad' all down the ages. The various social forms shift, and each new mode has its special dangers: but the 'hard spirit of concupiscence' has walked down every street, and sat leering in every house, since Adam fell….The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones. Tolkien advised his young son that the sexual fantasies of the 20th century were demonic lies, intended to ensnare u...

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