Dr. Drew interacts with the audience at the Touhill on Wednesday. Jennifer Meahan / THE CURRENT

Touhill becomes platform for sex talk

The young took over the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall Wednesday night when talk of Loveline’s Dr. Drew Pinsky’s appearance was made known throughout campus.

Orchestra seating filled a half an hour before the show while student groups had reserved seating. The volume of the crowd rose to an obnoxious high, all peering up at an empty stage with a podium and a pitcher of water. Was it pandemonium that encouraged the crowd, or was it pure sexual curiosity?

False cheers were projected when a tech walked out onto the stage to adjust the microphone. “I have seen ‘Sex with Mom and Dad’ and ‘Celebrity Rehab.’ I like what he has to say. I love Dr. Drew,” Lauren Kenney, sophomore, psychology, said.

“I am just here for the entertainment,” Suron Clark, freshman, elementary education, said. As an empty spotlight appeared center stage the crowd grew silent only to fill the room with applause when Dr. Drew appeared.

Dr. Drew opened the show telling the story of his conflict with the weather in order to get to the performance. “I am exhausted. My powers of concentration are maxed out so forgive me,” Pinsky said. He then proceeded to tell the audience of how he purposely framed the show to relate to the college student. “I really want to craft the conversation to what you want to hear,” Pinsky said. He went on to say that the subjects he would be talking about were not discussed in the ‘80s, a time when the news of herpes was starting to stir. This made him realize that it was important for him to talk about stuff such as condom use on his radio program. “I did not want it to be as self-promoting,” Pinsky said. He saw his controversial discussions as community service.

To get the discussion started, Dr. Drew asked the audience members if they could identify the subject of male and female phone conversations. “I never met a guy that called his friends talking about how he did the 10 steps in Cosmo,” he joked. He believes that both sexes spend most phone calls discussing male adequacy. The crowd burst into laughter. He struck a nerve. But, the discussion on hookups is what really got the crowd going. Some of the female audience responded positively to this. Dr. Drew responded honestly stating that in reality someone does become attached, unless one is dealing with a sex addict.

The rest of the night was filled with back-to-back conversations until Dr. Drew hit a serious note on the dangers of addiction. The discussion encouraged audience members to speak on their own trials of living with or around addiction.

Audience members appreciated this type of open atmosphere. “It was educational and seeing him in person made it realistic,” said Cassi Bohl, sophomore, education. “There were alot of areas where it compared with my own life,” Tyler Meinecke, senior, political science, said. Overall, the students and guests of the University of Missouri-St. Louis seemed to have a great time on a night full of a few laughs and education.