Sexual Responsibility Week promotes safety, mutual respect
Josie Bryan, an intern for Vandal Health Education, said Sexual Responsibility Week is about much more than using contraceptives, although safety is incredibly important.
“It’s also respecting your partner, or partners if you have more than one,” Bryan said. “There’s a lot of different areas: pledging you’re going to be respectful to what your partner wants to do, making sure you guys communicate and making sure it’s pleasurable for both of you.”
For the second year in a row, the University of Idaho will host Sexual Responsibility Week Feb. 9-13. Bryan, who specializes in sexual, sleep and mental health, planned the week’s events to allow students to talk about sex and share resources.
Bryan wasn’t alone in planning. She and fellow Vandal Health Education interns Amy Monroe and Sam Berg teamed up with Vandal Health Education Coordinator Emily Tuschhoff to prepare special events.
Monday, the Vandal Health Education team will launch a sexual health blog, The Touchy Subject, where students can look up events and read about sex-related topics.
According to Bryan, the interns will head to Theophilus Tower Tuesday with the “bare essentials” — handouts, condoms and lubricants — which will be given to students by someone in a bear costume. The plan is to show first-year students living in the Tower what resources are available to them, Bryan said.
The monthly Health Hut will be set up from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Idaho Commons, where condoms, sexual health handouts and “swag” will be given to students. The same day, interns will hold the Pledge the Bed event.
At Pledge the Bed, students sign a blow-up bed to pledge their commitment to sexual responsibility. It’s a way to inspire students to actively take part in respecting their partners and having open lines of communication, Bryan said.
The bed will be showcased Wednesday and during Sexual Health Week and Sexual Awareness Week as well, so future UI students can participate in taking the sexual responsibility oath.
The Vandal Health Education Office, the Women’s Center and the UI Student Health Clinic have free condoms in their offices year-round available for students to take, Bryan said. They also have other resources, like STD testing and contraceptive information.
“It shouldn’t be anything anybody’s embarrassed or worried to talk about, it’s a common thing,” Bryan said.
Virginia Solan, coordinator of violence prevention programs at UI, said Sexual Responsibility Week promotes safe interactions. She has been an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, abuse, stalking and domestic violence for 30 years, and continues to work to raise awareness and provide resources to UI students.
“If you respect yourself, you’re way less likely to project onto somebody else and hurt somebody else,” Solan said. “That’s why I always encourage our students to reach out to Counseling and Testing, Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse and my office and my web pages.”
Solan said she hopes Sexual Responsibility Week will help teach students they need to respect themselves, as well as each other. She encourages students to attend the events, even if they’re abstinent, so they can be aware of what their options are and stay educated about sexual responsibility.
“(It’s) important, because making the choices that are responsible always end up resulting in a healthier and happier outcome,” Solan said.
Jamie Lunders can be reached at [email protected]