Last Thursday renowned sexologist Jane Bogart came to Columbia to teach us how to flirt. The curious and coquettish Noel Duan attended.

;-)

YouTube clips and Powerpoint lectures are usually more associated with class than with campus dating, but last Thursday night, Schermerhorn 614 was host to the Art of Flirting, a workshop given by Jane Bogart, a renowned “sexpert” and author of Sexploration: The Ultimate Guide to Feeling Great in Bed. While “Keep Sex Sexy” t-shirts were offered at the end of the lecture, most students attended the event out of curiosity, perhaps in hopes of a better Thursday night—or Friday morning. “I’m getting flirting advice from someone who could be my mom,” whispered someone in the back of the room. Well, mothers do know best, right?

The packed room of attractive individuals—who did not look like they needed any tips or advice on dating—smirked, laughed, smiled, and nodded curiously at Bogart’s lecture, which lent a scientific lens to the timeless art of flirting. For example, flirting turns out to be a skill at which we are all experts from birth. “Babies flirt all the time,” notes Bogart; Infants are experts at charming strangers’ hearts with smiles and coy glances.

While the lecture provided plenty of insight into the artistry of successful and unsuccessful flirting, as Bogart shared her own anecdotes of lame pickup lines and awkward encounters, few put theory to practice— there wasn’t as much flirting going on before and after the lecture. This reporter noticed quite a few attractive individuals heading out of Schermerhorn at the end of the night, but unfortunately confidence cannot be taught.

Seductress via Wikimedia Commons.