Harvard Sex Week

Sex week at Harvard is a student operated program of lectures about "...all things sexual." Even though contraception has been a debated topic recently, the students "...veered away from politics..." and revolved more around if the education received from school actually prepared them for the event."Unlike typical student-run college programs in the decades following the discovery of H.I.V./AIDS, the campus events go beyond instruction on safe sex, rape prevention and sexually transmitted diseases to giving advice on how to feel more comfortable and fulfilled sexually, all, at least in theory, in a judgment-free atmosphere that embraces all lifestyles." These lectures and discussions are dissipating perceptions and rumors about sex. Some of the topics discussed included "...the ethics of pornography; sex and religion; kinky practices like bondage; and gay and lesbian sex." These are normally awkward or touchy subjects which were discussed, and people were educated. "Organizers of these events say that college students today face a confusing reality: At a time when sexuality is more baldly and blatantly on display, young people are, paradoxically, having less sex than in generations past, surveys indicate." Where did this idea come from? Yale was the first college to have a Sex Week, although it started as a purely jewish event, but others wanted to be involved, and so it became a campus wide event and is still continued at some colleges such as Harvard, Brown, Northeastern, the University of Kentucky, Indiana University and Washington University. All of these have held some version of sex week in recent years. Although education about sex is something to be approved of, these Sex Weeks also have a different side which has caused protest wherever they've happened. As vibrators are raffled off, contraception is sold at stands, some believe that this week promotes sexual promiscuity and disagree with it.  “Education does not mean giving everybody every choice they could make, it’s giving people the right information on how they should be pursuing relationships and sexual choices. It’s not a buffet.”