The sixth annual Sex Week at Tulane University is taking place across campus from Feb. 23-27, featuring events and programming that focus on destigmatizing diverse conversations about sexual topics. From daily tabling on McAlister Drive to sex-related research discussions to dance lessons, there is no shortage of ways to get involved with Sex Week.
Sex Week events include talks from professors and experts on a hookup culture, consent and the legalization of queer sexuality. The week is organized by The Well for Health Promotion and also includes dance classes, aqua zumba, sex trivia and a “condom crawl.”
First-year Shayna Vegega is one of many students of Krystal Cleary, senior professor of practice in the Department of Communication, helping plan a Friday event called “What’s Marriage Got to Do with It? (Disability).” Featuring a screening of the documentary “Patrice: The Movie,” the event highlights the intersection of marriage equality and disability.
“All the students in the class, we all just pitched ideas of what we think would be engaging events … and we all have different roles,” Vegega said.
On Tuesday, Sabia McCoy-Torres, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Department of Africana Studies, presented her research on the similarities between sex work and modern-day dating and hookup culture at a meeting hosted by the Feminist Alliance of Students at Tulane.
“What’s important to learn from sex workers, that I think is also relevant to students, is crisis mitigation and practicing different forms of self-empowerment, so more specifically,
being really active participants and having conversations about sexual practices and expectations during sexual encounters, and establishing terms of consent and having verbal consent,” McCoy-Torres said.
Sophomore Piper Oh attended the discussion and has plans to participate in several other Sex Week events.
“I think one of the biggest draws for me is all of the new information I learned, and all of the people who also go to events. I like going to events with my friends, and I think it’s really fun,” Oh said. “I think there’s just some really cool options. I’m gonna go to the burlesque class, and I would never have tried that.”
“I think Sex Week at Tulane is really important,” Vegega said. “I think it destigmatizes some things, just because it’s awkward, but it helps take [that] away … everybody just joking about it with each other really creates more of an inclusive environment.”