Portland State University (PSU) launched its annual “Sex Week” last Tuesday, highlighting “Chicanx sexuality,” BDSM gear maintenance, vibrators & dildos, and a panel discussion about polyamory.
To start the week, students were invited to a “leather workshop” to be educated on “how to care for your BDSM leather so it can look great and last a long time!”
The panel on polyamory, titled “Polyglamorous,” encouraged students who were “curious about non-monogamy” to learn “how polyamorous people navigate dating multiple people in addition to school and work.” Students and graduates of PSU participated in a discussion on “ethical non-monogamy and polyamory.”
Students were also lectured about what were seen as reactionary aspects of Hispanic culture. “Undoing Marianismo and Harmful Ideologies About Chicanx Sexuality” was the title of an event held yesterday by a Chicano/Latino Studies instructor. In it, she condemned the “cult of virginity” among Latinos.
Another Sex Week event instructed students on how “to play with vibrators, dildos, anal toys, toys for BDSM, and more.” It was put on last Thursday by a transwoman who is “training to be a rabbi with the goals of helping to foster comprehensive sex education as well as create holistic spaces for people to explore the intersections of sexuality, gender, and spirituality.”
The week of sex-themed events at Portland State was organized by PSU’s Queer Resource Center, which describes itself as existing to support “queer and trans students at Portland State University” while prioritizing “a racial justice framework to improve campus climate through education, policy change, and campus-wide organizing.”
Other events put on by the Queer Resource Center include a “Queer & Trans Black History Month Social,” and an “LGBTQIA+ Meeting for Standing up against Anti-Queer laws.” Students were also invited to drop by the Queer Resource Center to get “pronoun and identity pins.”
Sex weeks are common at colleges. Last November, during Harvard’s Sex Week, that university held a demonstration on painting “Pussy Portraits.” At an earlier Harvard Sex Week, students attended a BDSM demonstration which employed “whips, rope bondage and some floggers with different flogging techniques.”
