Sex education board sparks debate at SEMO residence hall

An educational board about sex at a Southeast Missouri State University residence hall has led to discussions on sex education among students and the hall's staff.

The board, called "What What? In the Butt: How to have a safe, wibbly-wobbly time," talks candidly about how to use condoms and dispels sexual myths while also using "Doctor Who" memes. It's on the third floor of Merick Hall.

The board offers tips in blunt language about using condoms, including how to apply them, the necessity of using water-based lubricants and where to store condoms. The board also presents sex myths followed by facts that range from information about masturbation to the necessity of using condoms, even in same-sex relationships, to prevent sexually transmitted infections.

A few students recently started a petition to have the board removed.

"I'm a Christian and I don't support some of the information that is on it, and I think it's against my beliefs," said Harrison Backer, a student living on the third floor who started the petition. "So I was displeased with that, and regardless of my beliefs, I feel that it's very foul. ... I have five younger siblings -- and two parents -- and they don't want to read that stuff [when they visit]. I don't want to read that stuff. I don't want to walk past it every day."

Backer added he is not out to change people's beliefs, but to remove something he sees as offensive from the place where he lives.

Jesse Weyand, one of the resident assistants on the floor, said it is the university's policy to support safe sex.

"We are in college," Weyand said. "People have sex, whether we like it or not. I'd prefer to say that we're trying to help them in that area. It's not helping people who aren't having sex. It's not trying to get anyone to have sex. It is [saying], 'If you are going to have sex, do it safely.'"

Weyand added the board has educated some students and dispelled some sexual myths.

"We wanted to provide a way to see options of how to have safe, enjoyable sex," Weyand said. "I heard the recommendation of an abstinence thing should have been added to the board, and I can understand that, except that it is a board about how to have fun and safe sex. It is impossible to have fun, safe sex while not having sex."

Delaney Foster, the hall director at Merick Hall, approved the board and has met with several of the students who are opposed to it.

"There were some students who took an issue with the board," Foster said. "My understanding of their concerns is that they felt like it was in poor taste, basically kind of tacky. They didn't like the vulgar language and they didn't like the casual, sort of humorous tone. That was the goal of the board, to keep it casual and light, because STDs are scary. I think the hope there was to make it a little less frightening."

Foster added that boards are made every month to address the needs of the students. The boards, as well as programs, are based on the needs of the floor as seen by the RAs.

"We do see a lot of college students who are coming to college with very little knowledge about healthy sexual practices," Foster said. "I was actually reading from [the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] that 54 percent of college students do not regularly use condoms, which is terrifying because people come to college to start their lives and to make their futures bright, and something like an unplanned pregnancy or an STI or even a really damaging sexual experience emotionally can really derail someone's life. Our hope is that we prevent some of those things from happening to our students, because not all students receive comprehensive sexual education in their high school."

Foster said her discussion with some of the people who were offended was enlightening and dealt with "whose rights begin and end where."

"Ever since I found out about the board, I've been putting a great deal of thought into it, honestly, because their argument is that we excluded their perspective, and I'm interested in this concept," Foster said. "I'm interested in the concept of including and affirming everyone's identity. I'm interested in exploring in the future what other boards will look like in the effort of being very inclusive because I think that everyone wants to feel like they're a part of the group."

Foster said that although she understands where they are coming from, she doesn't see anything wrong with the board.

"I think that it is a message that our students need to hear, but I can understand their perspective that they feel excluded," Foster said.

Foster is organizing a facilitated discussion about sexual education, as well as sexual norms and taboos in society. That event will occur sometime in the next month.

"I think that will be a very interesting discussion because we all live in that world, and so let's talk about it as students," Foster said. "Why should classrooms be the only place where discussion happens?"

Pertinent address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.