Consent is Sexy week aims to stimulate discussion before NOD

By Micaela Canales     10/24/12 7:00pm

 

This week the Rice Women's Resource Center hosted events that cover a range of topics from "sexpectations" at college parties to safe sex practices, Director of the Rice Women's Resource Center Kori Bertun said. 

According to the Women's Resource Center website, "Consent is Sexy Week aims to raise awareness about sexual assault prevention, healthy sexual relationships, and effective boundary setting and communication. Each day of the week features an event that brings a different perspective on consent to the Rice University campus."

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Brown College senior Bertun said the week is deliberately scheduled the week before Wiess College's Night of Decadence party. 

"It is very, very purposely done the week before NOD because it [NOD] is such a highly sexualized event on campus," Bertun said. 

Since students launched the first Consent is Sexy Week, it has annually been planned and executed by the Women's Resource Center's student coordinators and director, Bertun said. 

On Monday night the Women's Resource Center held an open house to kick off the week. 

Tuesday night at Willy's Pub there was a "Sexpert Q&A" entitled "What Your Mother Never Told You About Sex." The panel featured Head Residential Health Associate Chris Keller, McMurtry College senior Lena Silva, Vice President of Education for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Meryl Cohen, Rice counselor Hannah Golub and gynecologist Catherine Karmel. 

Keller, a Jones College senior, said that he enjoyed being a part of the event and that the turnout exceeded expectations. 

"There were more people than I expected, and more guys than I expected, which was cool," Keller said. "I think the week so far is going well, based on turnout tonight and also the people I have seen around campus with the Consent is Sexy T-shirts."

Will Rice College freshman Ronal Infante said the panel was enjoyable. 

"It was fun," Infante said. "It was what I expected. If I finish my homework, I want to go to the event tomorrow night."

Wednesday night featured a showing of The Line by Nancy Schwartzman. The event was made possible through the collaboration of the Women's Resource Center as well as the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreaction and Wellness Center, according to Wellness Center Program Coordinator Patrick Lukingbeal. 

Lukingbeal said the collaboration made sense because the WRC and the Wellness Center had a similar goal in mind. 

"It was really a natural partnership and made sense for us to team up," Lukingbeal said. "We had already considered doing a workshop on sexual violence in the Wellness Center, so there was a strong connection."

According to the Media Education Foundation, the documentary chronicles Schwartzman's personal story of rape survival and an investigation into the culture and factors surrounding sexual violence in the U.S. and the world. The showing was preceded by an event at Coffeehouse about personal definitions of consent. Schwartzman attended the screening of the documentary and participated in a Q&A session at Keck Hall afterward. 

Sid Richardson College sophomore Jesal Shah said she heard about the film through social media. 

"I heard about the week and events through Facebook," Shah said. "The Wednesday night documentary sounded really interesting."

"Sexpectation and the NOD Craze" was the title of the "Popcorn and Perspectives" event held Thursday night. "Popcorn and Perspectives" is an event regularly held in the Women's Resource Center that provides a forum for discussion about topics such as body image or women in film. "Sexpectations and the NOD Craze" focused on the Rice campus response to NOD. 

The finale of Consent is Sexy week will be a performance tonight by the Rice sketch comedy group "Kinda Sketchy" tonight at 8 p.m. in Farnsworth Pavilion titled "NOD Appropriate: Kinda Sketchy gets Kinda Sexy."

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