Sex Week Makes Sex Education Fun
The first reaction of many students when hearing about “Sex Week,” an event held at the Juneau REC from November 2-5, was split between confusion or excitement.
By: Hollis Kitchin
The signs were up in the cafeteria, the housing lodge and around campus advertising games: “Sex Scrabble,” “Sex Jeopardy,” “Condom Bingo” and “Sex in the Shower.” This posters informed students of the time and location of all events, 7-9 p.m., Sunday to Wednesday, at the REC.
“Sex Week” is put on by the Peer Advocates (PA) of student housing at the University of Alaska Southeast, sponsored in part by a grant from the Alaska Department of Heath and Social Services.
“Really we're just doing sex education and promotion of safe sex,” Peer Advocate Allison Boyd stated. All the games centered on facts about sexually transferred infections (STIs) and common misunderstandings about sex.
Each game night was set up with information about STIs, different types of precautions to take before being intimate with someone as well as basic biological facts about sex. Of course, the team that won each night had their pick of prizes. Cutting boards, pasta and sauce sets, towels, pots and pans, and mugs with hot chocolate filled the prize table the first night of game play.
The first game of the week was “Sex Scrabble,” and students entering the entertainment room of the REC found a giant scrabble board 16ft x 16ft, a pile of scrabble tiles each one square foot and four “tile keepers.” Couches and chairs all facing away from each other were set up around the board. The usual “double letter” and “triple word score” squares littered the board but among them were bright pink squares marked “Sex question 5 extra points!!!”
“It was incredibly fun” Taylor Murph exclaimed, a freshman from Ketchikan, Alaska majoring in Marine Biology.
Bonus points were given for playing sex related words and answering questions relating to sex correctly.
During “Sex Jeopardy,” familiar faces from the previous Scrabble night reappeared for another shot at winning prizes for dorms and apartments alike.
The categories filled the projection screen that Monday night, “History,” “Non-Hetero,” “STIs,” “Men's,” “Women's” and “Culture.” Questions came and points were gained and lost at a fast rate, a few technical errors occurred; mostly repeat questions popping up and trouble determining which group raised their flag first. Despite the technicalities, all in all, the teams had an enjoyable time.”
The night of “Condom Bingo” was just like any other bingo night; however instead of tiles being read out as B-52, they were read as B-condom, G-lingerie, and other sex related clip-art instead of numbers.
Rounds of bingo went until all the prizes from the week were gone, allowing for an hour and a half of solid bingo playing.
“We're not trying to force feed them information, we're just really concerned about the well being of UAS and that, you know, being young adults we also want them to start taking responsibility for things they do and [start] realizing that 'hey things can happen to me.' It's such a small community that we need to be able to take responsibility for our actions,” CJ Reeves II, another Peer Advocate explained.
“Sex in the Shower” was the final event of the week, an informal question and answer session between guys and girls about sex and relationships. There was a curtain put up and guys could sit on one side, girls could sit on the other if they wanted to keep their responses anonymous.
The fun filled atmosphere, unlike that of most high school health classes, gave an entertaining and unexpected way to learn about STIs, and aspects of sex that will surely be memorable.
The PAs of UAS housing would like to remind students living in the freshman dorms, and the apartments that there are free condoms located in the Peer Support Office located in the Lodge.
