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.
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