So I’m sure many of you are now aware that next week the Sexual Education Centre (SEC) here at U of T is holding its annual Sexual Awareness Week (SAW). And it all kicks off with a Sex Club Adventure!
Now that I have your full attention, you may also have noticed quite a lot of publicity around this first event in SAW. I’ve been following the topic around the corners of the triple ‘w’ for the past few days and will attempt to summarize my findings.
Background
- SEC starts SAW off by renting out a sex club for the day
“Come out and enjoy all the amenities of Toronto’s best sex club with your favorite group of friends. SEC has rented out the Oasis Aqua Lounge to allow students to enjoy the space at a greatly reduced cost with a crowd of their peers. Just show your student card at the door and you and your guests can enjoy the hot tub, heated outdoor pool, bar, and sauna.” (Event Facebook Page)
Clearing Up Confusions
- This is not an orgy.
- There is no pressure to have sex.
- No nudity until 7pm (note time change from original plans). Even past 7pm you will not be pressured to go nude.
- Any sexual activity will be limited to the top floor.
- The first floor is reserved for neutral, social interaction.
- Queer friendly!
- The usual rules that the Oasis Aqua Lounge enforces will not apply (ie. Don’t base your assumptions of the social off the Oasis FAQ!).
- All students are allowed – the party’s not limited to U of T. There’s an age limit of 35, and an age requirement of 19+ after 7pm.
- SEC is all about making people feel comfortable with their sexuality – you should not expect to feel pressure to do anything.
- Various SEC volunteers/Exec will be present to make sure no unwanted attention is received and to intervene if needed.
Various Media Associated
Reddit – Original SEC post
As far as I understand, here is one of the original posts made about the event. Several SEC volunteers, Exec, and previous attendees are answering questions and dealing with the various trolls.
Reddit – Waterloo invited (First use of word “orgy”)
And here’s where all the controversy and attacks started. The author of the post used the word “orgy” loosely and jokingly to refer to the event. SEC formally stated in various media that this is NOT an orgy.
The Star – First public media attention of the event
Did I mention that sometimes I enjoy reading through comments on an especially controversial article just to laugh at people? This article basically sums up the information and controversy at the time.
CBC – We’ve reached nation-wide audiences!
And, of course, CBC hops right on the band wagon to submit it’s own collection of tweets and quotes!
Kiss 92.5 – Interview with Dylan Tower, organizer of event
Dylan Tower speaks out to give formal information about the event. This is good for anyone who doesn’t believe any information written in the previous articles that I have provided.
The Star – More cleared information
And just Thursday a second article came out in the Star on the event. This focuses on a lot more on what SEC had to say.
My General Blurb
While I was unable to attend this event last year, I also don’t really recall it. Clearly media attention has been super hyped up this year – potentially good and bad. Probably because this year it’s open to students from outside U of T.
However, I do hear from my good friend on SEC as well as from posts and comments that last year the event went wonderfully. There wasn’t as much sex as you would imagine and there was mostly just normal socializing like any other bar night. The club has a heated outdoor pool, which I heard was used as the location for a snowball fight last year. And that sounds pretty awesome.
I’d also like to personally add that SEC is really all about promoting positivity and acceptance when it comes to sexual issues. And, let’s face it, sex is very much prevalent in student life – sweeping it under the carpet and not giving people access to education on safety and contraceptives will probably do more harm than good. But I also feel that, in the end, SAW isn’t going to be only about focusing on sex itself but will also open the doors for people to better accept sexual differences. And I think, at the end of the day, while you may not agree with someone else, as long as you can accept their differences the world might not be such an intimidating place any more.
So as with every other article on this topi, I am totally looking forward to the comments. But I also ask that everyone be polite and unassuming in their commenting because this is such an overblown issue now and I honestly don’t think anyone wants to do anyone else harm. Let’s all get along yes? 
