Between a USC Student Health desk and two food tents selling spam musubi and tamales, one tent bigger and longer than the rest offered students condoms, fuzzy handcuffs and vibrators.
The second day of Sex Week at USC saw the return of the Sexploration tent on Wednesday, October 16, an interactive space open to students to learn sex education without filters that was established in 2022.
Sponsored by Graduate Student Government (GSG), Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and Women & Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE), with support from USC Student Health, the tent has become an annual event that expands each year.
Speakers from past years, including Derek Wu, a violence prevention specialist, and intimacy coordinator Erin Tillman, returned to the tent and answered questions submitted at the front desk and prior to the event.
“It’s so inspiring to feel the students’ energy and excitement around these topics,” Tillman said. “I’m like the sex-positive auntie that comes to campus and talks about what I know.”
The tent, which ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., held raffles every 10 minutes, where students could win gift bags provided by Pleasure Chest, an adult entertainment store in West Hollywood. Inside each bag was an assortment of sex-related items, including fuzzy handcuffs, lube, vibrators and massage oils.
Cooper Brown, a junior double majoring in communications and East Asian studies, was among the many students who entered the raffle.
“We may not want to talk about it, but most students are going to have sex. And if that’s an unavoidable aspect, you may as well provide them with the resources so they can do it safely,” Brown said.
The Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment (SAGE), sharing a table with the question submission box, held an open conversation where participants could practice how to respect boundaries and personal safety. Olivia Efird, a senior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention, was at last year’s Sexploration tent and said that sex is “so stigmatized in a lot of different places, especially in rural areas or different states.”
“So it’s really nice to have a university that allows people to get an education that they didn’t get growing up,” Efird said. “It’s important to just let people talk about a topic that’s not really talked about for the first time, maybe in their lives.”
Next to the SAGE desk was WYSE and their spinner à la Wheel of Fortune, which landed on a specific sex topic and tested students’ knowledge.
Other desks presented by USC Student Health encouraged the importance of feeling sexy in a relationship and gave away free items like condoms and lube. At the same time, they, in addition to the other participating clubs and organizations, stressed the importance of communication and consent for students.
“When we have shame attached to sex, we end up not talking about it,” Wu said. “When we end up getting into injuries or not really understanding consent and boundaries, really having good education to talk about safe sex practices – to talk about consent and boundaries and actually how to engage in sex with other people – I think is really important.”
One anonymous submission asked Wu and Tillman whether or not pulling out was an effective preventative method. While Wu suggested treatments available, such as PrEP and DoxyPEP, Tillman reaffirmed the purpose of the Sexploration tent.
“We are not here to shame anyone for their consensual choices,” Tillman said. “It’s just really important to just be informed about what choices you’re making and what impact those choices can have.”