What is an original format for a sex/relationships advice column?

September 1, 2006 12:42 PM

What is an original format for a sex/relationships advice column?

We're familiar with the Savage Love and Go Ask Alice-style of advice column, but we're looking to write a weekly newspaper column in a little bit of a different format.

Trouble is, we have no idea what that format is exactly.

Maybe a dialogue? Advice from a variety of voices? Literary advice? Bad advice? An advice comic?

Help!

posted by stokast to media & arts (21 comments total)

Give advice based on what the characters in porn movies would do.
posted by dersins at 12:47 PM on September 1, 2006

Maxim or Stuff or one of those magazines has a "girls hanging out in the bathroom" column.
posted by trevyn at 12:47 PM on September 1, 2006

Use devil/angel on the shoulders format.
posted by mikepop at 12:52 PM on September 1, 2006

Limerick format.
posted by moira at 12:54 PM on September 1, 2006

People on the street interviews? Get your sex questions from the man on the street and have your sex guru give them the answers right there. If they'd let you publish their photos, that would be even cooler. If not photos, then a description: "Jackie, teacher, 48".
posted by joaniemcchicken at 12:59 PM on September 1, 2006

The Onion has a different person/character give "advice" every week (usually it's everything but advice).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:01 PM on September 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

Added note: You could feature a different group fo people each week, like maybe you ask the mechanics at a local garage for their questions, then a bunch of computer geeks at an office, next week a yoga class.
posted by joaniemcchicken at 1:02 PM on September 1, 2006

How about building on joaniemcchicken's idea, and having one group ask the questions - the mechanics, say, and then have another group answer the questions - members of a ballet company, for example...you could switch each week, so that the askers one week become the answerers the next week.
posted by Futurehouse at 1:19 PM on September 1, 2006

Flip it -- let the readers be the ones giving advice, and select a question. Format of the column would look like this:

Last week's question: I'm pregnant with a four-headed goat whose fetal baaahs are vibrating my stomach so much that they're keeping me up at night. What do I do? — Jezebel, Hades City, Hell

Readers' advice: [reprint best 4 answers]

Next week's question: Raindrops keep falling on my head. Does that mean I should stay in bed? I'm not sure if crying's for me. — Burt, Hollywood, CA

Do you have an answer for Burt? If so, write to NameOfColumn, mailing address, and if we like your answer, we'll print it.
posted by WCityMike at 1:24 PM on September 1, 2006

Yes! And call it Ask MetaSexFilter!
posted by unSane at 1:33 PM on September 1, 2006

Write it from the point of view of

1. A chimp

2. A maiden aunt

3. A pimp

4. A syphilis spore

5. An Alien

6... well, you get it
posted by unSane at 1:35 PM on September 1, 2006

1) Ask readers to submit advice they've given someone and then you find an expert/professional to back-up/correct what they've said. Or even two people -- one who somewhat agrees with the reader and one who doesn't.

2) What you should say/What you'd tell a friend. For every question, have two answers. The "Consult a therapist" style superego response. What a rational/reasonable person would say and then a candid "id" style response. What you would tell a friend if they told you. So basically a "best case" and then "real world/supportive" answer.

3) I've seen in before, but don't ask people to submit questions. Grab them from other sources – magazines, newspapers, etc. etc.

4) Unsolicited advice. WRite an advice column for people who didn't ask. "To the woman giving her 1 year old a Pepsi in the mall" "To the man discussing his vasectomy on the internet" "To the pop star who thinks she's ugly and missing out on life". It's bitchy, pushy and rude. Which means people who be ashamed to admit they like it, but it'll punch through the nicey-nicey crap that all the other advice columns do. Blind items are always more fun.
posted by Gucky at 1:37 PM on September 1, 2006

Give advice to the famous. It can be in the format of a response to an obviously phony letter from some celebrity (or historical character).
Do it with a tongue in cheek sense of humor but add a bit of wisdom to the advice to make it fun and a little profound.

Imagine advice letters from

Romeo or Juliet
Holden Caulfield
Napoleon or Josephine
Filliam H. Muffman
Brangelina
Rush Limbaugh and the women of DR
Tarzan or Jane

You get the picture.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:58 PM on September 1, 2006

While close to 'traditional' Q&A columns, why not have a male and female address the question, from their gender's perspectives. It could be serious or funny:

Reader asks: What do women like in bed?

Jane responds: (what a woman thinks the answer is)

John responds: (what a guy thinks the answer is)

And they could play off of each other's answers, perhaps one is actually a serious answer while the other is dismissive, sarcastic, or generally unhelpful-but-humorous. Informative yet entertaining.
posted by MarkLark at 2:32 PM on September 1, 2006

Have sex with readers and make your column a point-by-point critique of their technique. Give ratings from 1 to 5 stars.
posted by designbot at 2:42 PM on September 1, 2006

I like the reversal idea. Find someone extremely disfunctional, and have readers or man-on-the-street types help them with one problem every week.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:05 PM on September 1, 2006

While close to 'traditional' Q&A columns, why not have a male and female address the question, from their gender's perspectives.

They did this in my college paper. It was terrible. The columnists were consumed by trying to say something other than what members of their gender might stereotypically say. They ended up saying things that either (a) were very failed attempts at humor or (b) were offensive and thoughtless.

It was always disappointing because I would read the question and think, "Good question!" And then I'd read the jackass responses and think, "Huh?"

The boy-and-girl tag team concept could work, but you have to make sure your columnists have experience with the subject matter, insight into human nature and a genuine desire to be helpful. Advice columnists who just want to talk about sex in public are a waste of readers' time.
posted by katieinshoes at 5:36 PM on September 1, 2006

An advice comic?

Done

(warning: annoying embedded sound on front page)
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:23 PM on September 1, 2006

Have it in the format of your mom or dad explaining the answer to you. Nothing is funnier than your mom or dad explaining sex. At least that's what my kids told me.

If you go the literary route you're better make it a monthly column. Unless you can write in the style of 52 different authors a year.

Then again you could combine it with a classic film review to explain the sex question in terms of a particular movie. That shouldn't be difficult.
posted by ?! at 9:15 PM on September 1, 2006

Run the same question past an imam, a rabbi, and a priest.

Have a bunch of people discuss the problem and transcribe the discussion.

Limit questions and answers to 12 words apiece.

Get kids to answer the questions (obviously rules out most sex questions!).

Persuade Lynn Harris and Chris Kalb to resurrect Breakup Girl. Seriously, check out this site, Lynn's column was completely awesome and I still miss it.
posted by teleskiving at 12:36 AM on September 2, 2006

Oh! The story of how Oxygen screwed Harris and Kalb out of time, trouble, and trust should be more well known. Plus, they lost breakupgirl.com through simple ineptitude. Chris and Lynn deserved much better.

They would make a fun advice team.

Disclosure: I've known Chris for years. Great guy.
posted by ?! at 12:23 PM on September 2, 2006