'Anatomy of Pleasure' lesson engages student audience

Gathered around on couches, tables and even the floor, students crowded the Heyer Sky Lounge of Harrison College House last night to learn more about having a healthy sex life.

For this year’s VDay Campaign event, The Vagina Monologues, along with Penn Women’s Center, Wharton Alliance, Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women and the Social Planning and Events Committee, hosted MOREGASM — a workshop instructing students on the “anatomy of pleasure.”

The workshop focused mainly on sex positivity, a term used to describe a “healthy and accepting view of sexuality,” Babeland sex educators Avital Isaacs and Laura Ruocco said.

There is a “culture of taboo and shame” regarding sex, but “there are risks in everything you do in life,” Ruocco added.

From enumerating a Sex Bill of Rights to demonstrating sex toys and communication inside the bedroom, Isaacs and Ruocco excited the crowd and spurred rolling laughters throughout the night.

At one point, the crowd roared when Ruocco presented herself as a human vulva, explaining in detail the parts of the vagina and how to stimulate the most pleasure.

They meant for the crowd to learn more about the body and how to feel satisfied with their sexual lives. Babeland isn’t only a place to buy sex toys, but also “a destination, a lifestyle, a state of mind — all celebrating the simple truth that sexually healthy people make the world a happier place.”

Sex positivity is also this year’s theme for The Vagina Monologues.

College senior Isabel Friedman, the Monologues’ producer, said the theme will “set positive attitudes about sex by empowering people with information, tips and tools to have a healthy sex life.”

Students proudly displayed positivity for a healthy sex life by cheering loudly and enthusiastically throughout the Babeland duo’s presentation.

Annie Liu, a College freshman, emphasized the importance of having a healthy sex life by comparing sex to therapy.

Wharton senior Dennis Johnson joked that having the chance to attend this kind of workshop before he graduated was like an “end of the world” opportunity. He came out to the event hoping to learn “skills that will hopefully be very useful later in life and will make someone happy.”

Many other students showed up because MOREGASM was a new and different type of event on campus.

“This is a great opportunity to try something new,” College senior Leanne Gale said. For females especially, Gale explained that it’s “empowering” to talk about sex.

Penn’s VDay Campaign, which was the workshop’s primary sponsor, aims to raise awareness about violence against women. At the event, the group accepted donations to Women Organized Against Rape — a comprehensive rape crisis center in Philadelphia.

According to its website, “V” stands for vagina, valentine and victory.

And a victory it was, because the turnout for MOREGASM was beyond what was expected by its organizers.

Friedman said, “There should be more of these kinds of events at Penn.”

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