Organization, professors discuss ‘pleasure,’ ‘sexual identity within spiritual spaces’
Northwestern University is hosting a “Sex Week” this week, which includes a “sex toy giveaway” to “promote sexual health,” support “queer sexualities,” and more.
The College Feminists student group planned the week “in collaboration with Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators and the Center for Awareness, Response and Education,” The Daily Northwestern reported.
“Members from Northwestern Sex Week hosted a sex toy giveaway” on campus “to promote sexual health and confidence” during what they called “Wet Wednesday,” the student newspaper reported. Students could pick up free dildos, vibrators, and “penis toys,” the campus newspaper reported.
Sex Week co-leader and sophomore Kaleah Estep reportedly said she hopes the giveaway empowers students and gives them “the ability to try new things.”
“It shouldn’t be such a taboo subject. I believe people are scared and they think they should be scared to talk about it openly,” Estep said, adding she doesn’t “think it should matter.”
Student Skylar Waldron, who participated in the giveaway, told The Daily, “A lot of (assigned female at birth) people are taught and shown that sexuality is a bad thing.”
“You’re looked down upon if you’re a sexual being even though all people have hormones and bodies. So it’s nice to see something that is for everyone,” she said.
The week also includes daily discussions on topics such as “Sexuality and Spirituality,” “Exploring Pleasure,” “STI Awareness and Stopping the Stigma,” and “Supporting Queer Sexualities,” according to an Instagram post from Northwestern Sex Week.
On May 6, Assistant Professor Ray San Diego gave a keynote speech titled “Sugar and Spice: Kink and Pleasure,” according to another Instagram post.
“San Diego’s research and teaching interests broadly focus on transnational queer and feminist Asian/American performance practice, biopolitics and disability studies, and the spatial politics of erotic visual cultures,” according to the school’s website.
The Fix reached out to San Diego via email to inquire about the content of his lecture. He has not responded.
Earlier in the week, visiting scholar Chris Stedman discussed the relation between spirituality and sexuality.
“Many people experience tension or feel like outsiders when exploring sexual identity within spiritual spaces. Join us for dinner and an open, spirited conversation with Chris Stedman, writer, podcaster, professor, and LGBTQIA+ mutual aid advocate, as we unpack these intersections together,” another Instagram post reads.
Additionally, the week included educational programs led by a national organization called the Society of Health and Physical Educators. SHAPE “provided students access to lubricants, condoms and informational packets.”
The group also hosted a talk on “safe sex, sexual pleasure and kinks Monday evening,” The Daily reported.
NU has hosted “Sex Week” for more than a decade, traditionally spanning eight days. However, this year’s event was shortened “to support the NU Divestment Coalition — the group behind a five-day pro-Palestinian encampment” and “to keep attention focused on liberation,” The Daily reported.
MORE: Northwestern class is ‘anti-Christian bigotry,’ Catholic leader says
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: View of the campus of Northwestern University; EQ Roy/Shutterstock
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