
Attention-grabbing nametags at a sex-ed event for undergrads (Photo: Sascha Garrey)
By Sascha Garrey
Guest contributor
How do you get busy undergrads to focus on their sexual health? Try penis name tags.
That was among the many strategies deployed this week at a sex-themed trivia night organized by the Boston University Health and Wellness Office.
Diners who went to the Sunset Cantina just for the Mexican food on a recent evening were in for a surprise. Amidst the usual busy hum of this popular night spot, the thunderstorm of phrases like “female orgasm” and “pus-like discharge” booming continually across the restaurant may have shocked some into choking on their tacos.
The Cantina played host to BU’s sex-ed evening, “Sex at the Sunset”: students sporting comical penis-shaped name tags were spread around the venue, talking excitedly and sipping drinks from pink, labia-inspired straws.
A team of peer-health educators, known as the BU Student Health Ambassadors (SHAs), partnered with Bedsider — a pro-sex health outreach organization that advocates for the responsible use of birth control — to bring this racy, but informative, event aimed at BU students as a casual and amusing opportunity to learn and talk about sex.
Meilyn Santamaria, a senior at BU majoring in health sciences and one of the SHAs, helped organize the event and was also the mastermind behind the mood enhancing playlist — hot, throwback tunes like “Sexual Healing” and “Like a Virgin” were thumping all night.
Santamaria has learned a thing or two as a peer-health educator. For instance, she says, approaches to sex-ed like this light, fun-filled evening are important because they engage kids on a different level; and they sure beat those dry, awkward gym class lectures on hygiene.
“You actually get to interact with the material,” says Santamaria. “It’s exciting, it’s fun, it’s a safe environment that is a less intimidating way for people to learn this kind of important information about sex.” Continue reading