Duke senior Tracy Egharevba will appear on an episode of Oprah today entitled "Women Who Use Sex to Find Love."
That title may mislead some people, Egharevba said. "People, when they see the promos, just think, 'Oh, sleeping with all these guys and sex addiction.' I feel once people watch the show and realize what the issue is and what we talk about, they're going to be really disappointed," she said. "The show isn't just about sex. It's really about trying to find myself."
Nonetheless, the show's title already has the campus buzzing.
"Anything with sex, people don't want to talk about." Egharevba said. "If I went on Oprah for anorexia or drug addiction, I really don't think everyone would be as hyped about it."
The Oprah website is teasing the show segment as "a pre-med student's double life of one-night stands and sex with strangers."
Yet Egharevba said she thought that was not a true representation of the issues dealt with on the show.
"I've actually had e-mails from other girls telling me that they're going through the same thing," she said. "I just want them to know they're not the only ones, and there is help for them.'"
Egharevba is a psychology and chemistry major who is a campus tour guide and the president of the Duke chapter of the NAACP. She is also in the running for the Ms. Black North Carolina pageant, which will be held at the end of March.
She said she realized her lifestyle was a problem gradually. "I just realized that that was not what I wanted to do," she said. "I just wasn't happy. I needed something to change."
Being able to go on the show was a blessing, she said. "I'm in a healing process right now. I've been very happy for the past two months ever since I told my story."
She first told that story in an e-mail to Oprah. "[Oprah] thought my e-mail was compelling enough that it would help a lot of viewers, so she contacted me about coming on the show," Egharevba said.
Though some might consider a national television show an unusual way to heal, Egharevba said it was a route that worked for her. "People ask me why I didn't go to CAPS. But If I'd gone to CAPS, who would have benefited from my story?"
Egharevba said she talked to her parents about the show over break and has received a lot of support from family, friends and even faculty members.
"Some people don't understand, and I don't expect them to," Egharevba said. "I don't expect them to understand unless they're going through the same issues."
Egharevba declined to talk about the details of what she discusses on the show but said she would urge people to watch and see for themselves.
The show will air today at 4 p.m. on ABC.
While Egharevba said she has not seen the final product, she said the experience of taping the show was a positive one. "I think Oprah has a lot of power, and she uses that power very well," she said.
She also commented that she is most worried about the women who experience low self-esteem and get sucked into the hook-up culture at Duke without wanting to be.
"It's an issue not just at Duke but in college-people who feel as though whatever they're missing they can find in someone else by having sex with them," she said.
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