Everyone has a different experience when it comes to Sex Culture on campus. Since most students start out their experience at Acadia living on residence, the array of sex topics cannot be avoided. This can be morbidly overwhelming, especially for new students who have not been around such a sex rich culture before arriving. But once you arrive, there seems to be an unspoken pattern on the sex expectations. Let us take a stroll down the two most popular roads and the side streets they have branched off them.
The first road is called “Lovers Lane”. Walking down this road you will find roses and romance and cheesy Instagram posts. But once you turn down the unpaved, dark, choppy nightlife side street, it leads right into screaming, drunk, Trust Issue Town where relationships are tested solely on how much you believe your partner(s) when they tell you where they were, with whom, what time, and where they ended up. Most arguments witnessed are consistent with wars of words and lack of reassurance. But what is the underlying expectation? No matter what, there seems to be this natural expectation for you to go home and have sex with that person. Where did this rule come from? Great. Freaking. Question.
The second road university offers is the exhausting, long, and wild “Solo Street” where the opportunities seem endless and there is so much freedom for experimentation, when in reality you are probably sitting at home alone, horny and hungry. The side streets down this bad boy are more crooked but, like Lover’s Lane, also follow some hidden, unspoken rules. First of all, everyone has this weird hookup app called Tinder where somehow some people find their soulmates (???). So now, you are out in the club and you either meet a cutie the old fashion way (chill out Grandma) or you see your Tinder match and BAM, now you are dancing and BAM, now everyone naturally thinks you ~might~ go home together (Picasso’s first, obviously).
This is the glory of the unspoken rule, in a majorly condensed, overdramatic fashion. But somewhere through the woods (or up the stairs of the ASU), in the heart of the Peer Support Centre, lies The Women’s Centre. The Women’s Centre is an open and safe space for every gender identity, offering a variety of services all year around. It positively contributes to the sex culture of expectation on campus by providing fun educational events and paying close attention to what the students want and adjusting to fit the student’s needs.
The major way the Women’s Centre has done this is through a student favourite event called Sex Toy Bingo. This sexy form of bingo is a GREAT way for students to learn all about safe and fun ways to get funky in the bedroom, either with a partner or alone! With education surrounding different sex toys from our hometown (hero) sex shop Valley Vixen, it is an innovative way to get the residences of Lovers Lane and Solo Street a chance to try something new! The Women’s Centre also puts on a week-long event called Sex Fest which was a huge success this year! They put on nightly activities including workshops, movie night with a discussion, sex toy bingo, sex trivia, and a party!! This is a sure-fire way to spice up your week and shake up your daily current. Each event had opportunities to win prizes (the penis piñata was a crowd favourite) and promoted consent, safe sex, and of course, an evening full of laughs and entertainment!
Finally, we got some FREEBIES! The Women’s Centre also offers free lube, four types of condoms, feminine hygiene products, pregnancy tests, dental dams, and answers to any questions or concerns you may have regarding anything mentioned previously. Most importantly, it is a place to go if you need to talk or need a safe space to sit and just do you. The Women’s Centre will always go above and beyond to ensure the students of Acadia feel safe and heard, add some flare to everyone’s lives, and minimize those crazy campus SEXpectations.
