Sex sells. We know that. Sex sells so much that it even makes economics cool.
Don’t believe us? Just ask Marina Adshade, who found a way to increase the enrollment of her economics classes at the Vancouver School of Economics and The University of British Columbia. She created a course titled Economics of Sex and Love and – big surprise – enrollment boomed.
If your University days are behind you, Marina is the type of woman who would inspire you to go back. Engaging and charming, she spoke with us about her upcoming TEDxVancouver on November 14th. She will have you looking at your love life in a whole new way.
Your first TEDxVancouver Talk! Are you nervous?
I’m not nervous at all. I currently have 500 students. I speak in front of hundreds of people every single day. I know that the audiences are not there to judge you harshly. They want to like you.
What do you love about economics?
It’s a great lens to look at the world from. When people ask how I put economics and sex together, I wait until they think about it themselves. It becomes quite obvious. The search for love essentially takes place on a market. We understand how markets operate and change. Then we see how the market of love changes, like with marriage and family.
Is your popular class suitable for beginners to economic theory? Does it work as an econ 101?
Yes. I am teaching a first-year class. I have to spend a lot of time teaching the economic terms. They used to get some sex with their economics. They now get a little economics with their sex.
What has the response been to this course?
One student thought everyone in the world should take this course!
We read that you often speak about shaming and female sexuality…
I can’t go too much into it, but I spent a long time figuring out how we got the perception that women are less sexual than men. I don’t think it’s true, but it pervades our society in different ways. I think we need to look in our own mirror. Where do these ideas come from?
Are your younger students more open to these discussions?
You would think that [19-year olds] would be the leading end of these thoughts, but some of them have very stereotypical views of male and female sexuality. My students write blogs for me. One student wrote that there was no difference between being a prostitute and a wife. I said, “You know you are talking about your mom?”
Comments like that are more provocative than sex itself.
It is never my intention to tell my students what to think. I am just challenging them to take a different perspective. I think it is great when people disagree with me. I am not trying to end the conversation. I am trying to start the conversation.
The conversation will certainly continue this November. If you can’t make it, be sure to watch for the world’s coolest professor on the TEDxVancouver website. And be sure to get your curious hands on your own copy of Marina’s book here.
