On the first three Fridays after Spring Break, Korouva Milk Bar will host sex talks in partnership with Pirates for Pride and Reproductive Justice Alliance. The official dates are March 29, April 5 and 12 at 7 p.m. and will last about an hour to an hour and a half. Each session will cover a different topic and inform audience members on how to have safe sex. The event will be open for all students.

The first talk will be lead by Bekki Chastain, a senior and biology major. Chastain wrote her high school thesis on the history of sexual censorship in the U.S. and the future of sex education reform and she will present a syllabus she made out of that thesis at this talk. The syllabus will modified from high school students to “sexually, liberated, LGBT college students.” This talk will not only be about general sex ed but also talking about human anatomy and consent.

“There’s a lot of people having their first having their sexual experiences and they don’t know how to protect themselves, don’t know how to protect their partner, and don’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” said Chastain. “They just don’t understand. Which isn’t excusable, but it is preventable.”

The second talk is all about myth busting. Students will be able to anonymously submit questions into a box at the first talk that are about myths they’ve heard. Questions can be about sex itself or on how sex affects the body. An example could be myths about the hymen, which is believed to “break” after the first time someone has intercourse. Many students come to campus with incorrect knowledge on sex and their own bodies.

“I was told that condoms are too porous to prevent HIV transmissions, so the virus just goes straight through the latex,” said Chastain.

The third and final talk will be a Q&A session. This last talk will be about open communication on sex. Students can ask questions directly to people on stage. This talk can be about myths that weren’t addressed or a method of safe sex that needed elaboration. The discussion will be open and anyone can talk about any aspect of sex. The hope of this talk is to encourage a friendly environment to talk about sex.

At each event, Korouva Milk Bar will be selling special drinks that go with the theme of each talk. One drink mentioned was called “blue balls” and will be served at the myth busting session. It will be a one-time only event to buy these special drinks.

The event was proposed after members of Pirates for Pride went to a conference called Creating Change. Hannah Roark, a sophomore who went to conference and came up with the idea of having an on-campus sex talk, went to a panel on sex education while she was there.

“I’m sure there were a lot of people who came to college just like me still having a lot of questions that they needed answered,” said Roark. “I want to give people a chance to have those questions answered.”

Sex education isn’t mandated in all 50 states and even if sex education is taught, it’s not comprehensive. For instance, Texas public schools stress abstinence and have a negative view on nonheterosexual and cisgender orientations. When students come to college, they don’t have a solid foundation of sex education.

“I just think it’s important for people of all ages, but especially college students to have easy and friendly access to information on how to have safe sex and how to keep yourself safe,” said Roark.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases, or STDs, are at an all time high with 2,295,739 cases reported in 2017. Without proper protection, the chances of contracting an STD raises significantly. If you feel like you might have contracted an STD, the on-campus Health Center does STD screenings. They will provide any medications needed and provide additional information.

The point of these talks is to not only inform students on how to protect themselves during sex, but also to open healthy conversations about sex. Talking about sex is taboo, but if an environment is created for students to talk with other students, then it’s easier to have a conversation.