Sex positive week is a week at Appalachian State University dedicated to promoting and informing students of positive sexual experiences including the topic of consent.
On Tuesday, Wellness and Prevention Services, The Red Flag Campaign and Wellness Educators for Change, Advocacy and student Needs hosted a contact table in the Plemmons Student Union for the event Coffee and Consent. Students could get free coffee while learning about consent.
Consent is most commonly known as an enthusiastic, continuous, verbal “yes,” but there are other ways that one can consent to having sex.
“Consent isn’t just verbal,” Caroline Pruitt, a peer educator with WE CAN, said. “There are other ways consent can be given. For example, you can use nonverbal cues or dirty talk.”
Consent was not the only topic being discussed. “We have a lot of resources, especially online through the wellness website,” Pruitt said.
“It’s important to have this conversation on our campus,” Justin Kearley, also a peer educator with WE CAN, said. “We are creating a more positive environment where conversation about sex is comfortable.”
One way that Wellness and Prevention Services is fostering a more comfortable environment for sex is by providing a condom fairy service. The condom fairy, which had a table of its own in Levine Hall on Wednesday and outside of Cascades in the Student Union on Thursday, provides free sexual barrier methods to those who request through the online application on the App State wellness website.
“We have all kinds of barrier methods available,” Kearley said. “We have condoms and dental dams and we even have lube.”
Along with the condom fairy service, the third annual Project Condom Fashion Show was on Wednesday. This event promoted safer sex by sharing resources with students and showing students what not to do with condoms: wear them as clothing.
Another promotion of positive sexual experiences was on Monday with free HIV testing. The HIV tests were in the Grandfather Mountain ballroom and students received a free t-shirt for participating.
According to the wellness website, more than 1.2 million Americans have HIV and one in eight of them are not aware of it.
Source list
- Caroline Pruitt, Justin Kearley, and Kate Wood – members of WE CAN and The Red Flag Campaign, at the Coffee and Consent contact table in the Student Union on April 2.
- wellness.appstate.edu website
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