The following is a Toronto Star report on a growing trend in the world of trendy college curriculums: sex studies. Gender studies is not what we refer to; we mean the study of sexual acts, usually the more perverse the better attended these classes are. We ask the Academy: “What is the curricular goal of these studies?” No answer yet, but these stories are piling up.
****
By Carys Mills | Toronto Star | Student sex party draws hundreds | Hundreds of students lined up Monday night for a peek at the city’s sex club scene, where some of their peers were munching on pizza and watching porn.
Inside the Oasis Aqua Lounge, a downtown club that bills itself as a water-themed adult playground, the atmosphere was close to a house party with little nudity, at least early in the evening. Students, some dressed casually in hoodies, ordered food, played Twister and watched adult flicks while lounging on couches and beds.
Spots at the event, which was organized by the University of Toronto Sexual Education Centre (SEC) to kick off its sexual awareness week, were coveted. By 7 p.m., the hour when nudity became allowed in most of the venue, the event was at capacity with 189 people inside, said Dylan Tower, the external education and outreach coordinator of the centre, which is an affiliated levy group of the U of T student union.
More than an hour later, at least 100 people lined up on Mutual St. trying to get in.
Owner Jana Matthews said Oasis has never had a comparable showing. Last year’s SEC event drew closer to 80 people, but even that turnout prompted Matthews to offer a weekly student night.
“I think it’s a statement the youth are making,” she said. “It’s OK to have sex . . . if people weren’t interested they wouldn’t be here.”
She also attributed the massive turnout to intense media attention, some of which was tied to a Reddit post calling the event an “orgy.” Even though event t-shirts had the same term on it, both Tower and Matthews said it was used in fun and wasn’t an accurate term for the event.
“It’s clear that it’s not an orgy. There’s very little, if any sex going on at the moment,” Tower said. “The best way I can put it, it’s a very sex-positive club night.”
Daniel, a 24-year-old student at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, was drawn to the event out of curiosity. He showed up at about 2:30 p.m.
Six hours later, he was still there with a group of peers from his program, ordering pizza and not sure how soon he’d leave to finish homework.
As a couples made out discreetly in one room, scattered baskets of condoms and lube were among the sightings setting the evening apart from most house parties. On the top floor, a private room was locked and some moaning could be heard throughout the evening.
Daniel, who asked to only use his first name, said he’d already texted his girlfriend about coming to the club with him on another night. “It kind of made it a really safe environment, almost with training wheels,” he said.
Another attendee, Cassandra, checked out the BDSM demonstration that included a naked man in the “dungeon,” where no drinking is allowed and rules including safety words are posted.
“I got a whole bunch of definitions, which was useful. I didn’t realize there were general safe words and more than one level for safe,” said Cassandra, a 23-year-old U of T student who also asked to only use her first name.
She said extra rules put in place for the event, which required student identification or being the plus-one of a student, made her feel more comfortable than she had expected.
As well as signing a waiver with a valid email address (consenting to the chance of seeing nudity and rules including “no means no”) there was an age limit of 35, no sex allowed downstairs and strict no phone use after 6 p.m.
“People have really been looking forward to 7 o’clock when clothing is optional. I think it’s more of a novelty than anything else,” Cassandra said. “But I personally will be wearing clothing for the whole night.”
After 10 p.m. there was more nudity in the club, but there was little gawking.