University dedicates one whole week to discussing rough sex and sexual health

Imagine a school week where all you do is discuss all things sex, including BDSM, masturbation and more. Harvard University provides this kind of environment.

The institution holds an annual event which is tagged the "Harvard Sex Week." It is organised by the Sexual Health Education & Advocacy throughout Harvard College (SHEATH). The first Harvard Sex Week kicked off in 2011 with the aim presenting a week of programming that is interdisciplinary, thought-provoking, scholastic, innovative, and applicable to student experiences in order to promote a holistic understanding of sex and sexuality.

The 2015 edition of the Harvard Sex Week began on the 8th of November. Interested students get to discuss topics such as BDSM, masturbation, pornography, sex toys and so much more.

Harvard Sex Week events coordinator Julia Lee, in a recent interview with HuffingtonPost, talks about the importance of this annual event, and specifically why they chose to have a segment on BDSM discussion.

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She expressed her concern that when BDSM is discussed during forums like these, or generally, it is usually portrayed in a negative light.

"BDSM is a huge category that comes with a lot of different things that people want to explore. There is so much more to it that we can talk in-depth about," she says.

When asked to respond to accusations by some people that Harvard Sex Week is socially irresponsible and threatens students' safety especially due to the fact that it promotes such subjects like BDSM which is basically a form of sexual assault, Stiles had this to say;

"When we talk about BDSM, we do not just talk about what the acronym represent which is Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism, those things are not all that we talk about. We talk about so many other aspects, role play, pet play and a lot of other things that people want to explore. This is why we need this education to say there is so much more out there. Due to inaccurate portrayal, there has been a lot more injuries in the scene. BDSM is only dangerous when it is practiced by people who don't know what they are doing and that is exactly what we a trying to counter."

She maintains that the workshop is very important for students and it is very empowering.