Power/Gamma will educate students about sexual topics such as orgasms and aphrodisiacs in Baker University Center by using Candyland-themed activities.
The 9th annual Safe and Sexy event hosted by Power/Gamma will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The event will feature booths from the Better Bystanders, Sober Bobcats, the Women’s Center, Generation Action and Honey.
Because February is Romance Responsibility Month, Hailey Spivak, a senior studying health communication and public advocacy, said the event is a good time to get educated on “safe and healthy sexual choices.” There will be booths focusing on subjects such as self-love, BDSM, aphrodisiacs and consent.
“It’s a free event and it’s breaking down the stigma and taboo of anything related to sex,” Spivak said. “It’s very hard when you are not a health major to find the space to express and discuss sex so it’s a good place to start.”
Anna Heaton, the advisor of Power/Gamma, said there will be multiple new booths at the event this year, including a conference room all about sex positivity and having positive sexual conversations between partners. To demonstrate having a positive conversation about sex, students will make ice cream sundaes and discuss their toppings of choice.
“It’s easy for you to talk about what you like on your ice cream and what you don’t,” Heaton said. “So why can’t we as a culture kind of do that sexually too so that people enjoy themselves?”
There will also be a medical-themed booth to teach students about testing for and treating sexually transmitted infections. Each student will get “diagnosed” with an STI and demonstrators will use candy as symbolic antibiotics to treat or cure those infections.
Other new booths that will be featured will talk about having healthy relationships and teaching self-love. The self love table is important, Heaton said, because people might think negatively about their body image especially in a sexual setting due to expectations set by the porn industry.
There will also be members of Power/Gamma who will lead small groups around to all of the booths to engage in more personalized conversations and break down stereotypes of sexual topics.
“We’ve gotten, what, two emails in the past two days from OUPD about sexual assaults that have happened,” Heaton said. “I think talking about consent and talking about sexual communication is a good way to reinforce that sex should be something you enjoy and it should be something that mature people engage in. “
