Porn Stars, Dr. Ruth, `Freaked' Parents: It's Sex Week at Yale
Free vibrating toys, a packed
lecture by sex therapist Dr. Ruth, skin-tight latex bodysuits
and a party at a bar named the Toad. Welcome to Sex Week at Yale
University.
The fourth biennial event at the New Haven, Connecticut,
campus started Feb. 10 with a gender-challenging comedy act and
culminates this weekend with a sex-themed party, a spirituality
discussion and the sex-toy giveaway.
The point is to raise student awareness of sex, safety,
relationships and moral viewpoints, said this years organizer,
Joseph Citarrella, a 21-year-old economics major. The event also
provides a marketing opportunity for corporate sponsors
including the makers of Trojan condoms, sex-toy company Pure
Romance Inc. and adult film maker Vivid Entertainment Group.
“Sex sells, but its really an awareness program, said
Citarrella, who recently changed his resume for Wall Street jobs
after an interviewer “didnt get the educational value of Sex
Week. He said the variety of opinions and backgrounds at the
event “is like the setup to a joke: a priest, a rabbi and a
porn star walk onto a panel at Yale….
Sex Week at Yale, founded as Kosher Sex Week in 2002 by
Jewish student Eric Rubenstein, quickly became one of the
schools most talked-about events. Yale allows students to use
classrooms and equipment, as it does for other campus
organizations, and doesnt pay for the activities, university
spokesman Tom Conroy said.
Pure Romance, a sex-toy company based in Loveland, Ohio,
with more than $80 million in sales last year, gave the student
organization that runs the week $30,000 to pay for most of the
21 events, a student-made video documentary and a 60-page
magazine circulated at Yale and the seven other Ivy League
schools.
`Provocative Format
“Yales Sex Week is pretty much the foremost for its
distinct, provocative format, Logan Levkoff, a sex educator
and spokeswoman for Trojan, the condom unit of Princeton, New
Jersey-based Church %26amp; Dwight Co., said in an interview after
lecturing Yalies about the female orgasm.
Detractors include some participants, such as Dawn Eden, a
panelist this weekend and author of the book “The Thrill of the
Chaste. She said the week promotes premarital sex and endorses
unhealthy images of sexuality. She objected to a porn debate
between adult-film stars Ron Jeremy and Monique Alexander, to be
moderated by ABC televisions “Nightline host, Martin Bashir.
“This is how they get out the word, by having juicy events
featuring porn stars and sexologists? Eden said in a telephone
interview. “I think that is very damaging, physically,
psychologically and certainly spiritually.
Report Card
Trojan ranks Yale 14th out of 139 colleges and universities
on its annual Sexual Health Report Card, which rates “sexually
healthy schools on access to disease testing, contraception
and education on sexual harassment and assault.
Yale led the list in 2006, receiving a perfect score
because of its “excellent resources and Sex Week, Trojan
said. Trojan included more schools in the latest rankings,
giving top honors to the University of Minnesota and the
University of Wyoming.
“When I first found out about Sex Week, I was with my
parents, said Jordan Garner, a biology and religious studies
major who plans to pursue a graduate degree in religious
studies. “They freaked.
The organizers include “something for everyone, Garner
said. “I have a lot of Christian friends, and they say theyre
really proud of this.
Masturbation, Body Image
About 300 students crowded a lecture hall to hear Ruth
Westheimer, known as “Dr. Ruth from her 1980s television
show. Students giggled in the aisles as the 4-foot-7 (1.4-meter)
sex expert talked about masturbation and body image and
encouraged students to pursue sex studies.
Yale, founded in 1701, is Americas third-oldest college.
Its also the second-richest behind Harvard University, with a
$22.5 billion endowment. Alumni include actress Meryl Streep,
New York Senator Hillary Clinton and the past three U.S.
presidents.
“These students are going to be shaping society, and Sex
Week lets these kids look squarely at this stuff in the face,
said Jackie Coe, a third-year art-history major and the events
assistant director. Her first experience at Sex Week was
watching the pornographic film “Pirates two years ago.
“We dont necessarily want you to like it, but you need to
know whats going on, Coe said beneath the 90-year-old stone
archways of her dorm cafeteria. “If you dont like porn, then
go to the debate and tell it to the king of porn.
Plunging Porn Sales
That might be Steven Hirsch, co-founder and co-chairman of
23-year-old adult-film maker Vivid Entertainment Group, based in
Los Angeles, who will address Yale business students tomorrow.
“DVD sales are in a freefall, down 35 percent in the
past year as pornography viewers turn to Web sites, Hirsch said.
Sex Week is a “great opportunity for a healthy conversation,
having them really talk to the adult-film industry as opposed to
just scholars or feminists or anti-porn activists.
Pure Romance, which sells “bedroom accessories at home
parties, sponsored Sex Week as “a good learning tool for
students, Chief Executive Officer Patty Brisben said before her
lecture on vibrators and female sexuality.
“We tell women you may need a lubricant, and thats OK,
Brisben said. “You may have a decreased libido because its
finals week, and thats OK.
