 |
| A flyer for the Clothesline Project in March |
On March 21, approximately 200 t-shirts were hung across the Coates Espionage. Each shirt carried a survivor’s story of sexual assault. These shirts were for the Clothesline Project, an event held by The Coalition for Sexual Justice, a Trinity student organization.
The event stirred quite some controversy on campus. Supporters lauded the opportunity of giving voice to the survivors and getting people’s attention to the problem of sexual assault on campus. Opponents, particularly Greek organizations and athletic teams, opposed the allegations of their members involving in some of these assault cases. One student was surprised the school allowed such a public, outspoken event about assault and abuse.
The Clothesline Project was but one of the latest sexual health initiatives at Trinity, and the controversy surrounding it testifies the contentious nature of sexual health education. As Trinity University progresses their attempts to address the issue of sexual health through various programs in recent years, it is debatable whether the public awareness of these efforts has also progressed, or whether these efforts have served to create an uncomfortable space for students.
An investigation by The Roar indicates that students have varying levels of awareness, as well as varying levels of acceptance toward Trinity’s attempt of bettering their sexual health.
The first of recent initiatives of sexual health education was Sexual Awareness Week, or Sex Week, in 2014, inspired by similar event first held at Yale University in 2002. Sex Week “explores love, sex, intimacy and relationships by focusing on how sexuality is manifested in America, helping students to reconcile these issues in their own lives," according to Trinity’s website. Activities during this week include “workshops, discussions, health fairs, campaigns, and more.”
Since 2014, Trinity has held this week every fall, with the last held on October 4, 2018. Yet attendance seems relatively poor. As sophomore Natalia Salas views it, “[Sex Week] is not really popular and no one really pays attention to it.” Some even argue that the program “promotes promiscuity.”
The Wellness Center on campus is the main organizer of this event. It is an attempt to create a judgement-free zone to discuss safe sexual practices. Although there is a lot of positive feedback, the fourth annual event has received some negative reactions as well.
Some see the program as promoting bad morals in terms of premarital sex and sacredness of the action. “Sex Week is a bad idea. I came here to learn about literature, not blowjobs,” says junior Isaiah Mitchell. “Students don’t learn anything at Sex Week that they can’t just learn on the Internet.” Furthermore, “Sex Week ignores all the important stuff about sex and cheapens it. There’s no regard for the importance of love or marriage. It’s all medical.”
Not every student found the program unwelcome, though. “I think sex week is awesome! And I think something related to it should be part of freshman orientation honestly,” says junior Zoe Heeter.
Besides the arguably moral issues, there is also a lack of inclusion for non-hetero oriented individuals. One student, who desired to stay anonymous, discussed some faults of the event. “I think Sex Week is alright. I can see how it helps in general to try and create a good environment to learn about safe sex but as a queer person, it’s not very helpful. I would like if in the future it had more programming around queer sex and especially queer safe sex.”
As a matter of fact, people of all sexual orientations are at risk for negative consequences of having unsafe sex. As rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia are up 16 percent in Bexar county from 2016 to 2017, according to SACurrent, educating students about their sexual safety is increasingly necessary.
Current Coordinator of Trinity University Health Services Yvette Tercero reiterated this growing concern about STDs. She maintained that students “should be [concerned] given that Bexar County ranks 3rd for the most chlamydia, gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis cases in the state of Texas. Protection and prevention is extremely important.”
Some students seem unaware about the statistics. A student who wished to remain anonymous said, “I don’t hear a lot about STDs on campus, so I’m just going to assume that for the majority it’s good.” This contrasts to another student’s perspective. “Use of protection against STDs is lacking, as most people do not use condoms,” says sophomore Suzy Blalock. Trinity University Health Services offers STD counseling, STD testing and free condoms.
But there’s more to sexual health than testing and heterosexual contraception methods. Negative attitudes towards women and their sexual activity, and stigma towards assault still persists, which was largely the reason behind Trinity's very first Clothesline Project.
The official website of the Clothesline Project explains that the project has three main purposes; to educate those who view it, to help heal those who have been through it, and to show those suffering that they are not alone. The first Clothesline Project dates back to 1990 in Massachusetts. Starting with a small group of women who wanted to create an in-your-face tool that brought to light the statistics of sexual abuse, the project has now grown to an estimated amount of 500 projects nationally and internationally, with as many as 50,000 to 60,000 shirts shown in 41 states and five countries.
Dr. Sarah Erickson, assistant professor of Communication, was the first person to bring the idea to the Coalition for Sexual Justice. “I knew from talking to Cece [Turkewitz] and other women of the coalition that they wanted to do something that would provide a space for survivors to be visible in a way that they aren't always on this campus, and to make a statement more broadly as an organization,” says Erickson. “I think that it’s a really powerful project.”
President of the Coalition for Sexual Justice Cece Turkewitz spoke to the Trinitonian about the project. “We hope it will get people talking and will get people thinking about their actions… and how to better themselves or better their community around them.”
Amid the controversy that followed the hanging of the shirts, senior Hannah Braley, another organizer of the project and member of the coalition, told the Trinitonian that the project was important in order to allow open discussion. “We’re not censoring that because we think that’s a part of people’s stories, and it’s going to bring about a conversation on campus, hopefully,” she said.
The question is whether this conversation would lead to further action and change on Trinity’s campus or more tension.
In February, The Tower, a right-wing online publication run by Trinity students, published an article called “Trinity University Subsidizes Sin.” The piece, written as criticism of an event put on by the Black Student Union (BSU), stated that Trinity fails to live up to its mission statement, because the “school hosts a sex week each year, and even promotes teenage sexting as a healthy part of adulthood and relationships.” This shows how sexual health could turn into a partisan issue on campus, coming as a backlash to programs like Sex Week and The Clothesline Project.
Ultimately, it is a fine balance between promoting sexual health and not offending those who do not agree with broadcasting these sensitive topics. That is perhaps the biggest challenge of Trinity’s sexual health initiatives.
Besides the arguably moral issues, there is also a lack of inclusion for non-hetero oriented individuals. One student, who desired to stay anonymous, discussed some faults of the event. “I think Sex Week is alright. I can see how it helps in general to try and create a good environment to learn about safe sex but as a queer person, it’s not very helpful. I would like if in the future it had more programming around queer sex and especially queer safe sex.”
As a matter of fact, people of all sexual orientations are at risk for negative consequences of having unsafe sex. As rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia are up 16 percent in Bexar county from 2016 to 2017, according to SACurrent, educating students about their sexual safety is increasingly necessary.
Current Coordinator of Trinity University Health Services Yvette Tercero reiterated this growing concern about STDs. She maintained that students “should be [concerned] given that Bexar County ranks 3rd for the most chlamydia, gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis cases in the state of Texas. Protection and prevention is extremely important.”
Some students seem unaware about the statistics. A student who wished to remain anonymous said, “I don’t hear a lot about STDs on campus, so I’m just going to assume that for the majority it’s good.” This contrasts to another student’s perspective. “Use of protection against STDs is lacking, as most people do not use condoms,” says sophomore Suzy Blalock. Trinity University Health Services offers STD counseling, STD testing and free condoms.
But there’s more to sexual health than testing and heterosexual contraception methods. Negative attitudes towards women and their sexual activity, and stigma towards assault still persists, which was largely the reason behind Trinity's very first Clothesline Project.
The official website of the Clothesline Project explains that the project has three main purposes; to educate those who view it, to help heal those who have been through it, and to show those suffering that they are not alone. The first Clothesline Project dates back to 1990 in Massachusetts. Starting with a small group of women who wanted to create an in-your-face tool that brought to light the statistics of sexual abuse, the project has now grown to an estimated amount of 500 projects nationally and internationally, with as many as 50,000 to 60,000 shirts shown in 41 states and five countries.
Dr. Sarah Erickson, assistant professor of Communication, was the first person to bring the idea to the Coalition for Sexual Justice. “I knew from talking to Cece [Turkewitz] and other women of the coalition that they wanted to do something that would provide a space for survivors to be visible in a way that they aren't always on this campus, and to make a statement more broadly as an organization,” says Erickson. “I think that it’s a really powerful project.”
President of the Coalition for Sexual Justice Cece Turkewitz spoke to the Trinitonian about the project. “We hope it will get people talking and will get people thinking about their actions… and how to better themselves or better their community around them.”
Amid the controversy that followed the hanging of the shirts, senior Hannah Braley, another organizer of the project and member of the coalition, told the Trinitonian that the project was important in order to allow open discussion. “We’re not censoring that because we think that’s a part of people’s stories, and it’s going to bring about a conversation on campus, hopefully,” she said.
The question is whether this conversation would lead to further action and change on Trinity’s campus or more tension.
In February, The Tower, a right-wing online publication run by Trinity students, published an article called “Trinity University Subsidizes Sin.” The piece, written as criticism of an event put on by the Black Student Union (BSU), stated that Trinity fails to live up to its mission statement, because the “school hosts a sex week each year, and even promotes teenage sexting as a healthy part of adulthood and relationships.” This shows how sexual health could turn into a partisan issue on campus, coming as a backlash to programs like Sex Week and The Clothesline Project.
Ultimately, it is a fine balance between promoting sexual health and not offending those who do not agree with broadcasting these sensitive topics. That is perhaps the biggest challenge of Trinity’s sexual health initiatives.
Vampires is not at all like in the movies or books. Sure, I understand. You are young you have the whole world open to you. You can be anything that you choose if you apply yourself and try hard to work toward that goal. But being a Vampire is not what it seems like. It’s a life full of good, and amazing things. We are as human as you are.. It’s not what you are that counts, But how you choose to be. Do you want a life full of interesting things? Do you want to have power and influence over others? To be charming and desirable? To have wealth, health, and longevity, I can help you solve any problem you are having
ReplyDelete(1) If you want your ex back.
(2) If you want to stop having bad dreams.
(3) You want to be promoted in your office.
(4) You want women/men to run after you.
(5) If you want a child.
(6) You want to be rich.
(7) You want to tie your husband/wife to be yours forever.
(8) If you need financial assistance.
(9) If you want to stop your divorce.
(10 If you want to divorce your husband.
(11) If you want your wishes to be granted.
contact the Vampires Lord on his Email: Richvampirekindom@gmail.com