Break the Silence hosted its monthly Sexy Hour workshop on Oct. 23, focusing on breaking down sex myths for students in order to create a more sex-positive campus environment.
Every month, the Sexy Hour Committee — comprised of members of Break the Silence — chooses a topic of interest and holds two sessions during the month. Break The Silence members are trained to facilitate the discussions, which focus on topics such as oral sex, sex toys and aphrodisiac foods.
“Sexy Hour is the time to be goofy and silly to make people more comfortable and open about sex,” said Audrey Baer, ’17, a discussion leader for the event. “We also do our best to address all types of sexualities in order to be inclusive.”
During this month’s Sexy Hour workshops, the topics explored facts and myths about sex. At the beginning of the discussions, the leaders try to make those attending feel as comfortable and welcome as possible. Ground rules are set to make sure students are respectful of all opinions, experiences and questions.
Depending on the topic and the personality of the group, each discussion focuses on different sexual subjects. Seeing familiar faces at the workshop makes people feel more engaged to ask questions.
Katie Jalboot, ’17, said some groups are really enthusiastic about the topics and will make jokes or argue with facilitators. Other groups are really quiet if the topic is intimidating or difficult to speak openly about in front of roughly 10-20 peers that may not know each other very well.
“I think people feel uncomfortable talking about sex because there is so much stigma attached,” said Dakota DiMattio, ’17, a member of Break the Silence and past discussion leader. “It’s historically been a taboo topic that I don’t think attitudes toward it are going to change overnight.”
However, Baer said she believes the only time students ever talk about sex is in sex education to share information on contraception or to combat sexual assault. Although these topics are important to discuss, she said, this puts a negative light on sex. Getting a conversation started on questions people have but don’t want to ask is one way to make the culture more sex positive.
The myth-busters discussion was focused on learning about topics that are considered sexual myths or facts. The discussion began with an icebreaker about penis sizes, which forced students to become involved in the discussion. Topics ranged from the safety of birth control pills, pregnancy, menstrual cycles, douching and female ejaculation.
At the end of the discussion, students left having different viewpoints and learned interesting facts about the Sexy Hour discussion. The goal is for students to feel more comfortable and willing to discussing these subjects in an open environment. The November Sexy Hour topic will focus on BDSM/Kink.
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