Two of the most difficult topics a writer can tackle are sex and politics. With politics, it's hard to keep a reader awake all the way through. And sex … same problem.

We're all a bit past the ooh, look what we're talking about in print thing. When this newspaper debuted Ask Isadora back in 1990 or so, that wasn't the case. There were no "Internets." If you wanted frank sex talk, you couldn't find it outside the pages of poly-bagged magazines sold at 7-Eleven. Dr. Ruth certainly wasn't certainly going to tell you how to care for your Prince Albert piercing. So City Paper was explicit and proud of it.

"Running Isadora and all kinds of advertising has been a point of pride," explains founder Bruce Schimmel, "because it was one of those things people really enjoyed. If not here, where?"

But it's not 1990 anymore, and there are only so many times you can read the question, "Hey, why doesn't my boyfriend let me use a strap-on?"

So I've spiked Isadora in favor of a home-grown column: "Paper Doll," which debuts this week. Our new columnist: staffer Ashlea Halpern, who's already filed fascinating reports from the sexual trenches.

The difference between Ashlea and Isadora? Ashlea's mission is to report on sex and culture as a beat, not a Q&A. And not to merely give you a deposit for the ol' spank bank. Ashlea is first and foremost a reporter, and will treat sex culture the same way our other reporters cover their beats.

"Human sexuality is as valid a beat as City Hall or college basketball," says Ashlea. "New stories unfold every day but are tabled for fear of offending readers' puritanical sensibilities. Please. We all have sex. And if we don't, we're at least interested in reading about other people having sex."

What qualifies Ashlea for this job—and believe me, everybody with a functioning set of sexual organs thinks they can write a sex column—is her open mind and relentless curiosity. That's the requirement for a solid reporter in any beat. And it's what's scored Ashlea, at 24 years old, a deal with Quirk Books to write an offbeat sex manual (due in stores spring 2007).

I can promise one thing: You won't fall asleep halfway through any of Ashlea's columns.

Want to hear our writing contest winners (p. 18) read their stuff? Want to meet guest judges Don (The Backward-Facing Man) Silver and Melissa (Lexi James and the Council of Girlfriends) Jacobs? Want to yell at me for that Santa on the toilet cover? Then stop by Voices & Visions, in the basement of the Bourse, tonight at 7 p.m.