Over one thousand students took part in the Center for Women and Gender's annual sex festival, which began four years ago as part of a week-long V-series. The festival represented both serious and playful sides of sex and aimed to expose students to a wide variety of ideas to enhance their physical relationships.
"The broad goal is to provide a forum in which students can explore the issues of making healthy sexual decisions," director of the Center for Women and Gender Xenia Markowitt said. "The premise is not really to be prescriptive."
The event used displays from a wide range of student and College service groups to disseminate information about sex and relationships.
Sex Ed, a student group, had a table full of both conventional and unorthodox sex toys, including a vibrating rubber ducky.
Amarna's display included a number of aphrodisiacs, such as chocolate, almonds, honey and ginger.
A representative from the Dartmouth College Health Service explained the importance of using condoms and lubricant while giving free samples to festival attendees.
Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority emphasized the non-physical aspects of relationships with the theme "Makin' Love Without Doin' It." They asked students to think of things to do on a date other than sex and share these ideas.
The festival also included a demonstration of self-defense by the program Radically Changing Defense for Women. A similar program was offered as a PE class this term.
"The displays at the various tables were set up to be amusing as well as educational," Nutt said.
Other groups at the event included Women's Information Service, the Gay-Straight Alliance, National HIV/AIDS Awareness and Sexual Abuse Peer Advisors.
The Center sent out a campus-wide BlitzMail message to all student groups in an attempt to get a diverse selection of student groups involved.
"Anyone who was interested in having a fun, informational, interactive group was welcome to participate," Alysondra Duke, assistant director of the Center for Women and Gender, said.
The event, which over 1,000 students attend each year, has proven to be very popular. The Center for Women and Gender, however, hopes to expand upon the theme of V-day even more in the future.
"I think that there is room for the festival to really grow next year," Duke said. "I'd really like to see it expand into an entire week of discussions on sexuality."
The sex festival preceded two productions of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues, which were performed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Proceeds from the tickets and the chocolate vulva-shaped lollipops sold at the door benefited a charity to end violence against girls and women.
The production was performed before a full house in Collis Commonground, where an attentive crowd listened to the stories of women as told by Dartmouth students.
"I got involved partly out of curiosity and partly because of the good things I had heard about the production," Courtney Otto '09 said. "Plus, the girls involved are really amazing."
