Members of the Feminist Organization Reclaiming Consciousness and Equality (FORCE) will host Sex Positive Week next week, a three-day event dedicated to the open discussion of sexual awareness and experiences.
The group has collaborated with Associated Students, Inc. and the President’s Commission on the Status of Women for the event. Sex Positive Week, which begins on Oct. 6, will feature a variety of activities to help Cal State Long Beach students expand their sexual understanding and break down what FORCE calls cultural ignorance toward sex.
After noticing what they perceived as closed-minded views on sexuality and alternative lifestyles in students, members of FORCE decided an event like this one was due.
“The idea for Sex Positive Week came about from a growing frustration with people’s attitudes about sex and sex education,” said Wandie Kabule, a CSULB journalism major and co-chair of Sex Positive Week. “We read an article in a campus publication that was very critical and judgmental of alternative sexual lifestyles. It made some remarks that we felt were very sex negative.”
Activities during the week will include panel discussions, sex toy workshops, film screenings and education on alternative lifestyles.
Among those alternative lifestyles discussed will be the life of a sex worker.
Justine Schneeweis, co-chair for the event and a political science and creative writing student at CSULB, said she’s looking forward to the Sex Workers Outreach Project.
“The sex industry is complicated, and it exists in every part of the world in so many different forms,” Schneeweis said. “There are so many areas to explore when discussing sex work, but if you’re going to stigmatize it or criticize it, people need to remember to then also acknowledge the demand for the sex trade, because otherwise it wouldn’t exist.”
Members of FORCE have been planning for the event since May and they hope students will take advantage of the events offered to them.
Sex Positive Week is the largest event the group has ever organized and is also the first large sex-based event to take place on a local campus, Kabule said. Cal State University Fullerton had a similar, one-day event called “I Heart Consensual Sex.”
Attendees of CSULB’s event will be able to explore aspects of sexuality they might have not encountered.
One of the films featured, “Beyond Vanilla,” will feature the fetishes and practices involved in S&M, along with demonstrations and how-to instructions.
“It gets you compelled, you see it and go ‘hmmm.’ It’s something most people don’t talk about in everyday life, so it sparks interest,” Kabule said of “Beyond Vanilla.”
Other activities that may spark interest include the Babeland and Pleasure Chest workshops. Presenters from both workshops will help encourage women to embrace their sexuality. One workshop is offering a G-spot user’s guide.
Sex Positive Week will also feature more traditional dialogues about sex. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, CSULB health educators Heidi Burkey and Linda Pena will discuss STI’s, HIV, drugs and sexual assault. Burkey and Pena both work to help students get tested and work through traumatic experiences. Their workshops will help students become aware of the available resources on campus.
Regardless of the activities students choose to attend during the week, FORCE hopes the event will leave a positive impression.
“We did get a couple of students, when we were in the planning stages, who seemed to think that the event was something morally wrong,” Kabule said. “But I think people now understand what we’re doing. We aren’t promoting any one lifestyle. We are getting people to discuss different lifestyles and develop an understanding.”
FORCE members have only seen an increase in interest as the event nears.
“When we were [at the] Week of Welcome pretty much everyone who came up to the table seemed excited about it,” said Mariana Velázquez, a co-chair of Sex Positive Week and a human development major at CSULB. “It’s definitely something new and unexpected to look forward to, coming from your local feminists.”
The entire schedule of events can be found at sexpositivecsulb.blogspot.com.
Okay, like, how much is there really to this topic that it needs to be constantly discussed? It’s a pretty straight forward concept, not rocket science. Abstinence education isn’t failing us. [What, kids aren’t learning how to put on a condom? Come on.] We’re failing us. We are a feel-good whatever you want goes society that is constantly bombarded by sexual messages and images on television, in the movies, in songs. Saying we need more sex education is like saying we need classes on breathing. What we need is to wake up and realize where this kind of feel-good attitude has taken us: fatherless children [a large number of whom wind up in jail], rising abortion rates, unwed mothers, AIDs, STDs, broken families through adultery.
Okay, like, how much is there really to this topic that it needs to be constantly discussed? It’s a pretty straight forward concept, not rocket science. Abstinence education isn’t failing us. [What, kids aren’t learning how to put on a condom? Come on.] We’re failing us. We are a feel-good whatever you want goes society that is constantly bombarded by sexual messages and images on television, in the movies, in songs. Saying we need more sex education is like saying we need classes on breathing. What we need is to wake up and realize where this kind of feel-good attitude has taken us: fatherless children [a large number of whom wind up in jail], rising abortion rates, unwed mothers, AIDs, STDs, broken families through adultery.
although i would not mind a good circle jerk, this event is going to be intellectual and beneficial for everyone with genitals. educating oneself about their body and discussing sexuality is important. thanks to abstinece only education in schools, the last thing we need right now on a college campus is for students to be ignorant about sex. see you all there! and i especially hope to see rachel there!
This event isn’t about “trying to see how we can get off.” It is about educating yourself through discussion with professionals about lifestyles that are different from your own, or helping spread knowledge of the lifestyle you live. If you check out any of the events, I’m sure you’ll see that they definitely are going to be intellectually stimulating and not a group of people participating in a circle jerk.
Isn’t a good education all encompassing? The clear failure to educate American teens on sexual education is apparent, but college students find this event problematic?! Really?! Isn’t college an expensive, voluntary choice to further your education? Are familiarizing oneself with various fields through GE courses a problem too?
This event is clearly intended to break the taboo that has this country afraid to say the word sex, let alone talk about it and its repercussions, both positive and negative. I think the event couldn’t have taken a more intellectual approach- it’s confronting an oppressive ideology that has held this country in a stronghold for centuries. In addition, they have EXPERTS in the field speaking on panels. This isn’t some dark, seedy bar they’re forcing 10 year olds into, it’s an open forum for discussion and intellectual engagement on a University campus .
A University environment is supposed to be a life experience, challenge your mind, and foster conversations. This will definitely spark conversations among people, as well as challenge preconceived notions of gender stereotypes and sexuality.
If you take a look at the schedule and search the bios of the people speaking at the event, you’ll see that they have very impressive credits. These are people with PhDs, their own businesses, and a plethora of published material. We did not just get any random person to speak at the event, it was very planned and I think you’d be surprised to see what some of the topics are.
We also live in a time where sexual freedom is being restricted, especially in this coming election. If you are concerned with educating the mind, it would make sense to attend an event talking about… educating the mind.
While this is a well-written article, I feel like it focuses a bit too much on the “fun” aspects of the event and not enough on the overall message. The message is that abstinence-only education is failing us. It is proving to be detrimental to the educational system and our social society, as a whole.
I hope you’ll at least check out the blog with more information, Rachel.
I don’t think we need this stuff on campus. School should be about educating our minds concerning intellectualism, not trying to see how we can get off.