UCL in the News: The joy of sexperts

Alice Wignall, 'The Guardian' We look to "experts" for guidance on everything, from where to buy a house, to how to decorate and clean it and what to eat in it once we have installed the kitchen.

It is no surprise that the sex we are having in the bedroom has not escaped the same scrutiny. …

Dr Petra Boynton [UCL Population Health] is not only an expert on sex - she did her PhD on the effects of sexually explicit images and now works as a psychologist at UCL - but an expert on being an expert. Unfortunately, she says, not all specialists are necessarily the most well-qualified people. "There are some terrible 'experts' working with the media. I have seen quotes from people on a subject that I know for a fact they have no clue about," she says. "If your livelihood depends on being in the media then some people are going to say anything in order to appear." …

"There are still always mavericks who'll say anything to see their name in print," says Boynton. "And that's not to say that if you're not an academic you have nothing to offer. It's just frustrating for us because we're sitting on top of a mountain of genuine research and information and it's hard to get it out there." …

The media have changed in the past decade, says Boynton. "Then, journalists would listen to you and you could have a dialogue. There were fewer people in the field so they would defer more to experts. Now, there are more articles, more books, more people doing it, more pressure and if you won't say what they want to hear, there's always someone who will."

Sex is often not treated very seriously, she argues. "The articles on the subject are very gendered, very feminised, they're given to non-expert writers to do and they have to fit with a racy picture and an attention-grabbing headline.

"If it was cancer or abuse or fraud you would need a proper qualified expert and you would treat them quite deferentially. But with sex, everyone has an opinion." …