"Safe and Sexy" event promotes sexual health awareness

Students organizations POWER/GAMMA and Better Bystander sponsored the annual Safe and Sexy social to promote sexual health and safety to students of Ohio University.

[dropcap txtcolor="#234a83" style="dropcap1"]T[/dropcap]wo non-profit student organizations, POWER/GAMMA and Better Bystanders, sponsored the annual Safe and Sexy social Tuesday, which focused on providing a safe and fun environment for students to learn about sexual health.POWER/GAMMA is an organization that aims to provide peer-facilitated health programming to Ohio University students on such as topics like sexual assault and alcohol.Other organizations that contributed booths were Planned Parenthood, the Women’s Center, Survivor Advocacy Program, Generation Action, and the adult store, Lion’s Den.  The booths offered free condoms and lubricant, as well as information about subjects like consensual sex and BDSM. They also offered an intervention for situations where a student may feel sexually uncomfortable.Katherine Linson, a senior and POWER/GAMMA member, believes that students have a hard time asking about sexual health.“I think a lot of people are afraid to ask questions,” Linson said. “[The Better Bystanders] booth offered information on how to intervene on uncomfortable situations safely using methods such as the four D’s: direct, distract, delegate and delay.”Linson said sexual conduct and safety is a severe problem on college campuses, and that this kind of information is important for students to know.“This event just puts people at ease and gives people an abundance of information,” Linson said.Michelle Bogard, a senior who is with POWER/GAMMA, said that it was one of their biggest events of the year, with last year's tally reaching around 300 people.Better Bystander was founded with the goal of reducing sexual and gender-based violence via bystander intervention, Linson said.Last year, they put on around 5,000 programs, many of them for learning communities, she said. They also host programs during Halloween and Homecoming seasons, which have higher counts of sexual assault crimes.In college environments, where there are seasons known as “red zones,” which are the most dangerous time for sexual assault on campuses, getting information out to the student population is extremely important, Linson said.With the event being held right before Valentine’s Day, these students organizations believe now is the perfect time to hold the Safe and Sexy social, Linson said.“It is the best time,” she said. “It is the perfect event  to promote sexual safety and fun near a day like Valentine's Day.”