This week, Student Wellness Educators (SWELL) are hosting the second annual Sex Week to promote sexual education and sex positivity on campus. The SWELL team is hosting various events throughout the week, including a “Build Your Own Relationship Workshop” and “Navigating Pleasure With Dysphoria” session.
Along with hosting workshops and educational programs, the team is also having a sex toy raffle. At each Sex Week event, students are able to receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win a toy, sponsored by Passional Boutique & Sexploratorium. In collaboration with the Sexual Health Advisors, SWELL is also hosting Sex Week games in the Dining and Community Commons and Science Center on Friday, Oct. 27, Monday, Oct. 30, and Tuesday, Oct. 31 from 5-7 p.m.
The SWELL team is partnering with a range of campus groups for Sex Week. The Build Your Own Relationship Workshop, which occurred on Oct. 25 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Mertz Hall, was a collaboration with the college’s Resident Assistants. An advertisement for the event stated that the workshop allowed participants “to explore different relationship styles, learn about [their] interpersonal boundaries and communication style, and build [their] own relationship.”
“Navigating Pleasure with Dysphoria,” which is set to happen on Oct. 30 in the McCabe LibLab from 5-6 p.m., is also in collaboration with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). Dr. Jace St Cyr, a postdoctoral resident at CAPS, will be leading the event. According to the organizers of the event, participants will be able to “explore finding pleasure, joy, and curiosity in intimacy while experiencing dysphoria.”
The highlight of this year’s sex week is “Safe Sex? Sexuality, Labor, and Censorship,” a series of events with speaker Tina Horn, writer and creator of “Sfsx,” a dystopian graphic novel where
“sex and gender deviance is absurdly surveillanced, policed, and bureaucratized.” The keynote lecture in the series of events is “Shadowbanned Nation: the lust, labor, and genders THEY don’t want you to read about,” where Horn will discuss how the dystopian conditions in her graphic novel intersect with “real life circumstances.” The event is being held in Science Center 101, and the first 75 participants will receive free copies of “SfSx Vol. 1.” Besides the keynote lecture, Horn will also be leading “Monster Smash Workshop” and “CENsuality: Gender and Sexuality in an Age of Censorship.”
