We at the Echo would like to express our amazement at how many people attended Bobbi Starr’s lecture last night. Pulver was packed to maximum capacity; well beyond what we imagine the fire code allows.

What we find most interesting about this high attendance is that it was higher than any other event any of us can remember ever happening at Colby, and the only one we can remember even coming close is the rally that took place on the steps of Miller. No issue—not dorm damage, or alcohol rules, or any issue of multiculturalism or diversity—has had the power to unite the campus under one common interest for an hour as pornography did Monday night. Without making any judgment on whether this event deserved the disproportionate amount of attention it garnered, we would like to explore some of the reasons why we think this may have happened.

One of the most obvious reasons many people attended was that pornography is such a taboo subject. You do not have to have a Ph.D to know that sex is everywhere on a college campus. However, it is not a subject that many people feel comfortable talking about candidly, let alone performing on film for money. We suspect than many people were intrigued by the prospect of hearing the perspective of somebody who is so unusually open with her sexuality. 

Another reason we suspect most people went to Bobbi Starr’s talk is that they were either intrigued by and/or skeptical of her positive spin on pornography. She has a reputation as a feminist, and it is hard to imagine how feminism and pornography might compliment each other so closely. Indeed, much of the conversation we heard after the talk centered on what attendees did not like or did not agree with from the talk. Granted as liberal arts students we are trained to question and deconstruct arguments, Bobbi Starr’s talk presented an opportunity to grapple with such a provocative and uncommon argument that it is only a natural reaction to want to counter it in some way.

We recognize that everyone in the audience likely had a different reason for attending Bobbi Starr’s lecture, and we are sure that everyone’s reasons were in some way unique. It is rare, though, that any event can draw such a crowd, and we are glad that such a large portion of the Colby community was able to unite in one common interest.

- The staff of The Colby Echo