At 'Sex Camp,' condoms and candy

Vaccines, pamphlets and plenty of condoms drew students to Houston Hall Wednesday night.

Sex Camp, hosted by the Undergraduate Assembly and Student Health Services, seduced over 100.

But beyond the free contraception and pamphlet-covered tables was an opportunity that provided students a chance to participate in games and giveaways and to explore various student groups on campus.

Director of Health Promotion and Education in Student Health Service Susan Villari explained that through the camp she wanted to make available “information quickly from the experts” and to help students “understand a little bit about students’ sexual behaviors.” She added, “About 60% of people are using condoms during vaginal intercourse, but Penn students think it’s much higher consistently.” She made it her mission that students “understood those discrepancies.”

The Class of ’49 Auditorium featured a “circuit” with categories ranging from abstinence to sex toys, where participants received cards to mark off each booth they’ve visited for a chance to win a Sex Camp T-shirt. Students’ facial expressions ranged from disturbed at the sexually transmitted infection table — where a panelist joked, “You’re thinking about abstinence now, right?” — to more at ease upon arriving at the sex toys table.

UA Vice President and Wharton senior Faye Cheng expressed her excitement that the UA was able to co-host the camp with SHS, which has hosted the event on its own since 2006. Cheng explained that the event was held at the beginning of the year because the hosts “wanted to start off the year with a big event like this and get people educated and excited” about a topic that has been considered “taboo in the past.”

UA President and Wharton and Engineering senior Tyler Ernst said that he and Cheng loved the idea of Sex Camp but wanted to, with the help of the UA, make it into a bigger event than it had been in the past. He thought they had a decent turn-out and that the event was “programmatically excellent.” Ernst expressed that there was room for improvement but thought it was “definitely a success.”

Other groups involved were the United Minorities Council, the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students, the Abusive and Sexual Assault Prevention and Reach-A-Peer Helpline — which aims to help students “talk through the issues” they have and suggest places for them to go when in need, according to College senior and member Anthony Francomacaro.

The camp proved to be informative and challenged a lot of stigmas that are often associated with sex, as Wharton freshman Jonathan Wilson and College freshman Sarah Craig felt. “I thought sex toys were for freaks, but the way [the clinical sexologist] talked about it made it interesting,” Wilson said. Craig added that the event as a whole “was shocking but good for me.”

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