Abstract :
This essay focuses exclusively on the views of women students at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The initial study examined the personal texts and discourse of forty-three students, men and women, enrolled in three creative writing sections over the course of one academic semester. Participants crafted personal texts in order to explore their views, feelings, and lived experiences regarding sex. Emotional narrative engagement allowed them to navigate the terrain of sexuality by reflecting on its significance in their lives. Discourse immediately took a spontaneous turn as the majority of students proved highly adept at engaging with and work-shopping texts. Clearly I was not dealing with passive individuals; they were as interested in my views as I was in theirs. Queries ranging from why I had chosen to examine the issue of sexuality to the goals and scope of my research, and more importantly, what I would do with the findings began to surface. Students were keenly aware that sex texts would provide an intimate glimpse into their lives, but once assured that real names would not appear in any published material, all were disarmingly eager to participate
