By Sara Chernikoff
Sex Week at University of Maryland kicked off on Monday with a viewing of the Graphic Sex Project. The student run organization will also be hosting a queer safesex workshop, free STI testing and a highly anticipated condom fashion show this week.
Sex Week (SXWK) aims to provide inclusive information about sexual health and awareness to the campus community. Not only is Sex Week run at University of Maryland, it is also organized and run at many other major universities throughout the country.
The University Health Center, Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) and the LGBT Equity Center at UMD all partner with the SXWK Team to host different events focused on spreading sexual health awareness.
Maili Knox, a senior women studies major, is the president of Sex Week at Maryland. She said the purpose of Sex Week is to spread knowledge about sexual health in a sex-positive, inclusive and relatable way.
“Sexual health impacts everyone, regardless of whether or not you’re sexually active, so we really want to encourage Terps to take this opportunity to learn about how they can develop and promote healthier relationships with sexuality,” Knox said.
The Graphic Sex Project is new event being hosted by Sex Week. According to the Graphic Sex project website, GSP was designed to help people have better sex by helping them talk about it. The project began as an icebreaker activity in a women’s discussion group. It transformed into an art installation and interactive website that is used as a tool to help people have good, honest and revealing conversations about sex.
The designer of GSP, Jennifer Beman believes conversations about sex should be brought out of the shadows and the realm of taboo. “Normalizing the conversation, and making it more playful and natural is key,” Beman said.
The condom fashion show hosted on Wednesday April 10 is a long awaited event that Sex Week organizes each year. It is held on National Youth HIV + AIDS Awareness Day. The purpose of the event is to educate students about sexual health risks and safer sex methods. Student organizations are recruited to make outfits completely made of condoms, which they get to model on a real catwalk while sharing the inspiration behind their garment and how it promotes safer sex.
Junior public policy major Maggie Lewis is a member of the Sex Week at Maryland executive board. Lewis said she is most looking forward to the condom fashion show.
“We currently have 12 students orgs registered for the event. We also have performances by Mockapella and Sketchup happening…The whole goal of the event is to provide positive association with condom usage and safer sex,” Lewis said.
The University Health Center will be hosting the last event of Sex Week on Thursday. The center will provide free STI testing for students.
Sex Week members hope that students will attend the different events and engage in healthy discussions whether they are about identity, contraception, consent, abstinence or pleasure.