Each year, Northeastern RSA hosts Sex Week during spring semester. This year, the theme was ‘Delicious,’ and each event involved some sort of dessert or other kind of treat. The event schedule kicked off Sunday night, February 9, with the authors of “I <3 Female Orgasm” coming to speak. Both female and male students attended. The next few days included games with sex-themed prizes like STD trivia, a cooking class on how to make aphrodisiac dishes, and an exotic dance class. As the last event, Don Jon, a film about a porn-addicted man starring and directed by Joseph Gordon Levitt with Scarlett Johansson and Juliette Moore, was shown in AfterHours.
As a freshman, this was my very first Sex Week experience at Northeastern. I attended most of the events with various friends. None of us were exactly sure what to expect at first. Sex was more of a taboo topic in high school. Any discussion of it was reserved for diagrams in health class with awkward gym teachers. Needless to say, there were hardly any school-supported events that broadcasted the topic of sex in a way that didn’t come off as a warning.
College isn’t high school, though, and we are all adults. The events were informative without being scientific or depersonalized. While jokes were definitely cracked and many of the events had a lighthearted atmosphere, every event definitely had substance.
I think that Northeastern Sex Week is a great event that carries a powerful message. Sex isn’t something that anyone needs to be ashamed of or judged on. While it’s personal, it can be talked about and should be accepted by others. To a certain degree, I think that’s a message many college freshmen don’t bring with them from high school, but it’s important to learn. Northeastern Sex Week did a great job of accomplishing that.