Sex Week is not until March 2, but already Tennessee lawmakers are only threatening to limit even more student funding for all student organizations, not just SEAT. And all because Sex Week is happening.
What is Sex Week?
The Mission of Sex Week:
“Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT) strives to foster a comprehensive and academically-informed conversation about sex, sexuality, and relationships with the purpose of educating the University of Tennessee student body and the Knoxville community through innovative, collaborative, and entertaining programming and events.”
Wow, this sounds so scandalous. Pardon me while I roll my eyes.
Once again Tennessee lawmakers are freaking out over sex week. While I am trying to be unbiased in this, the fact that I go here, have a roommate that is on the board so I know I am already a little biased. However once you look at the facts, there is little reason to be upset, after all when it comes to sex week there is a little something for everyone.
Here is an entire list of all the activities offered during Sex Week:
- Cooking Class
- Hook-up Culture
- Sexy Oscars Party
- Women’s Health
- War, Sexuality, and Aggression
- Communication, Consent,and Sexual Assault
- Sexual Pleasure, Health, and Advocacy
- Gender Theory 101
- Abstinence
- Porn, Then and Now
- Cross-Cultural Sexuality
- Sex Trivia & Pizza
- Sexploration
- Dance Class
- Ted Talks Marathon (not an actually Ted Talk, just Ted Talks relevant to sex, sexuality, gender, and relationships)
- Sexual Assault Roundtable
- Transgender Sexuality
- Orgasms and Masturbation
- Relationship Workshop
- Pornography
- TN Politics and Policy
- Ask A (S)expert
- Commitment and Sex
- Religion and Sexuality
- Jamar Roger Concert
- Lamda Drag Show
- Middle East and Sexuality
- Sex and the Law
- Art Show
- Poetry Slam
To learn more information about what each event just click here to go to the schedule.
If you look through the complete list, you will see that this is very diverse and not just focused on teaching students how to have sex, or encourage students to have sex. Rather, in my opinion, it is informing students about sex itself, something that needs to be addressed.
Unfortunately here in the state of Tennessee sex education in public school is not the greatest. I am one of the more lucky ones because I had parents willing to answer questions and I went to private school up north (a catholic one at that). No doubt many students in the state of Tennessee encounter sex for the first time in either high school where sadly sex education is still lacking or in college.
Now personally I believe in Abstinence, although it can be very hard and difficult at times. Still though, I know not everyone will be up for that idea, so shouldn’t they at least know what they are getting into before they get into it? I want to state that I am Catholic and I am for sex week because I believe it is important to be informed.
A few of the topics that I am very excited about and hope I will be able to attend are Commitment and Sex; Can’t Touch this: Abstinence; Religion and Sexuality Panel; Communication, Consent, and Sexual Assault Prevention; Middle East and Sexuality; and the the Drag Show.
Tennessee lawmakers are not happy about Sex Week happening again and this time they are threatening all student organizations, not just SEAT. How? My impression was they were thinking of cutting or eliminating student funding that will effect all student funding for all organizations.
Here is the actual resolution.
The individual who basically proposed this is Stacy Campfield, a Catholic who speaks out against the drag show, condom scavenger hunt, and some of the other topics that are scheduled throughout sex week. Although I have not read any articles on what he has stated this year, I remember last year that they were worried about how it would corrupt the students and how it was improper to use funds for this kind of program. Stacy Campfield currently has 28 supporters for this resolution.
Last year they decided a week before sex week last year to pull $10,000 dollars of funding. Within that week, SEAT was able to raise all that money back. With that in mind it is obvious that the students want Sex Week to happen.
The fact that organization is offering a wide variety of topics when it comes to the matters of sex should be noted. They are not forcing one side of the issue on anyone. I want to point out what it states on the topic of abstinence for instance
“SEAT believes abstinence is a legitimate choice. This panel will discuss the different definitions of abstinence, how to make your decision, and how to explain your decision to others.”
A group of speakers will be on the panel to discuss Abstinence. Yah! And it is recognized as legitimate. After hearing many times from individuals saying that Abstinence is not a legitimate choice, it is really nice to hear.
On a related note, but not related at the same time to the topic at hand.
I do not see Tennessee Lawmakers getting involved when their football players are being arrested for having large parties. Especially when they should be held to a higher standard since they are representing the university. (I will have a blog post soon about all the times within the past 5 or so years that Tennessee players have been arrested.) I do not hear Tennessee lawmakers crying foul or trying to cut funding to that.
I do not see Tennessee lawmakers getting up in arms about the Greek community as more and more fraterniy chapters are being revoked due to inappropriate conduct. I’m sure the nation still remembers us for the butt chugging incident. (I will also post soon about all the incidents that have occurred, but as of right now I know that at least 4 fraternity’s have been suspended and a few have had their charter revoked. I do not see Tennessee making stricter laws when it comes to Greek organizations.
To get back to the topic, SEX Week is an informative week for students with all different beliefs and backgrounds. As someone who is Catholic I support sex week.
To learn more about what is going on and all the details, check it out the articles below:
Please spread the word! Share this article. Reblog it, like it, and comment on it. This is very important.
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