Kennesaw State University’s Gender and Women’s Studies program is partnering with the Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Center and the Interpersonal Violence Prevention Project to host #KSULOVESEX month.
The celebration is a series of events held during the month of February designed to encourage discussions, education and awareness of safe sex, healthy relationships, interpersonal violence and more.
#KSULOVESEX month began Feb. 5 on the Kennesaw campus with a special screening of “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary on the subject of sexual assault on college campuses. The screening was followed by a discussion on sexual violence at universities in the United States. The discussion was moderated by Shameka Wilson, director of the Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Center, and Dr. Corrine McNamara, associate professor of psychology.
The second event of #KSULOVESEX took place Feb. 9 on the Kennesaw campus with the first round of “Sex & Hot Chocolate Q&A,” co-sponsored by the GWST Program. At this event, students were able to ask a panel of public health and medical professionals questions about anything about related to sex.
Another Q&A will be held Feb. 25 in Q106 Engineering and Technology Building on the Marietta Campus. Students can either attend the event on the Marietta campus or ask questions using the hashtag #KSULOVESEX on Twitter and have them answered by Wilson. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions anonymously at the event.
Wilson will host the ONE Choice Bystander Intervention event Feb. 19 in room 3019 in the Social Sciences building at noon. The event is a three-hour training that will help students to identify signs of interpersonal violence and step in to assist in eradicating it in their communities.
The event’s agenda “invites participants to reassess their role in interpersonal violence prevention, encourages participants to believe that their contribution matters, and engages participants in education that will expand their knowledge base and skill set to take action.”
The final event of #KSULOVESEX month is Art Aids America, an exhibit on the Kennesaw campus in the Zuckerman Museum of Art. The exhibit will be open March 2-3 and will feature artwork dedicated to the presence of HIV and AIDS in America. Art Aids America is presented by Washington state’s Tacoma Art Museum and New York’s Bronx Museum of the Arts and the exhibit at the ZMA will be the only exhibition in the southern U.S.
Co-presidents of KSU YESbody! Kristina Agbebiyi and Priscilla Almonacy both emphasized the importance of holding discussions about sex in the KSU community.
“I think even in college, sex can be so taboo,” Agbebiyi, a human services major, said. “People are also often misinformed by the time they enter college. Talking about sex in a friendly and open environment will educate the campus, because it helps takes the awkwardness out of it.”
“I think if we have open dialogue with our students, and allow ourselves to get through those uncomfortable moments which tend to come up, students will be able to understand and learn a lot better,” said Almonacy, an African and African diaspora studies and sociology double major. “I am a heavy believer in conversation to build awareness.”
“I think events such as town halls where differing opinions can be aired out are good, or maybe fun social events or even more intimate gatherings that allow feelings to be shared in safe spaces help,” she said.
Detailed information about all of the events can be found online by downloading a PDF of the full program of events this month at http://gwst.hss.kennesaw.edu/.
