Karen Owen Duke Mock Thesis

Former Duke University student Karen Owen made headlines in early-October of 2010, when news of her unusual "mock thesis" began to surface. In her "mock thesis," Owen provides detailed information about her sexual encounters with more than a dozen Duke University students, along with her ratings of their performances in bed. Owen drew up a 42-page PowerPoint presentation, entitled "Excelling in the Realm of Horizontal Academics," that includes a lot of heavy academic language describing her conquests, along with photos of her alleged sexual partners. Many of these alleged sex partners were members of Duke University's lacrosse team.http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20018888-10391704.html

In her "mock thesis," Owen gave raw scores to her sex partners based on a variety of, as she puts it, "admittedly subjective" criteria. Points were awarded for "physical attractiveness, sexual skills and creativity, aggressiveness, humor, and athletic ability." Owen also gave points for size and awarded bonus points for "extraneous factors" including "the presence of an Australian accent and/or professional surfing skills."http://jezebel.com/5652114/college-girls-power-point-fuck-list-goes-viral http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20018888-10391704.html

Owen decided not to keep her "mock thesis" to herself. In May of 2010, she e-mailed the document to a handful of friends. One of those friends, Owen says, began forwarding the presentation to others via e-mail. Now, Owen's list has gone viral.http://jezebel.com/5652114/college-girls-power-point-fuck-list-goes-viral Her PowerPoint list of rankings of sexual partners is posted in its entirety online, with names and faces in photos blacked out for privacy.http://deadspin.com/5652280/the-full-duke-university-fuck-list-thesis-from-a-former-female-student/gallery/

In an interview with the online blog Jezebel published on October 7, 2010, Owen apologized for the situation, saying: "I regret it with all my heart." Owen said she "would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned" in her presentation.http://jezebel.com/5652114/college-girls-power-point-fuck-list-goes-viral

Do you think that Karen Owen deliberately circulated her "mock thesis" in the hopes that it would get out? — Join the discussion!