Despite the Healthy Sex and Relationships series having come to a close last week, the Title IX Office here at Swarthmore College still has more activities in store. According to Raven Bennett, Swarthmore’s Title IX Fellow,
“Thus far this semester, the Title IX House has hosted or collaborated on fifteen events. Five of these events were part of Training Tuesdays and ten of the events were part of the Healthy Sex and Relationships Series.”
Bennett details the brief history of the Healthy Sex and Relationships, writing that “we decided to expand the duration of the series this year to space out the events more. We felt this would both make organization easier and make it easier for students to fit attending more than one event into their schedules.” This semester, the events held were: “Me Too, You Too Postcard Writing,” “Consent in Practice” and “Relationship to Self,” “6+ Ways to Find LGBTQ+ Love, Support, and Friends,” “Consent and Self-Love Valentine Making,” “Interfaith Storytelling,” and “Speed-Dating & Speed-Friending.”
During these events, participants were encouraged to think introspectively about not only their experiences, but the experiences of others. Alex Kingsley ‘20, reflects on her experience at a Consent in the Arts workshop,
“The talk itself was really informative. Raven was really great about taking complex, scary topics and making them easier to talk about. It did show me how prevalent Title IX violations are in the arts, though, and how difficult it is to deal with them.”
Bennett writes: “We had a number of collaborators for this series including Student Health and Wellness, WRC, IC, Interfaith, and OSE. Our student teams, the Title IX Advisory Team and the Title IX Liaison Team were also integral to planning and facilitating the events that comprised the Healthy Sex and Relationships Series.”
Training Tuesdays, in themselves, are a fairly new concept at Swarthmore. “This is the second semester we are organizing Training Tuesdays. We piloted Training Tuesdays last semester to create weekly opportunities for members of the Swarthmore community to engage with topics related to healthy relationships, sexual violence prevention, and survivor support. We were very excited by the high level of student interest in the trainings last semester, which prompted us to continue the series.”
Overall, the Healthy Sex and Relationships and Training Tuesdays series are forged by a love (pun intended?) for Swarthmore students and an interest in their safety. Bennett writes,
“The hope with all of these events is that we create programming that appeals to a wide variety of interests and contributes to creating a safe and supportive campus atmosphere. I know that students can be very busy, so I always feel appreciative and grateful when students come out to our events. For those who have not had a chance to attend one of our events, I encourage you to take a look at our Training Tuesday offerings and come out to a training that appeals to you.”
Upcoming Training Tuesdays include: “Sex & Alcohol,” “Supporting Survivors,” “LGBTQI+ Sex and Dating,” “Hook-ups to Break-ups,” and “Masculinity.” They are held weekly on Tuesdays from 4 to 5 pm, in Science Center 105.
