The Student Services Financial Committee heard Sex Out Loud give a presentation for their General Student Services Fund Eligibility and granted GSSF eligibility to the Student Veterans of America Monday night.
Sex Out Loud’s program coordinator Song Kim said Sex Out Loud aims to “promote healthy sexuality through education and activism.” She said they recognize that all individuals have a unique sexuality which is why they emphasize inclusiveness.
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“We always say that there are over 40,000 students on campus and that means there are over 40,000 identities, sexualities and gender expressions and that’s something that we need to continue to promote,” Kim said.
Sex Out Loud also emphasizes the importance of safe spaces, normalizing consent, stigma reduction and peer-to-peer education, Kim said.
This peer-to-peer education is a key part of what distinguishes Sex Out Loud from other resources on campus. Kim said each student staffer undergoes 60 hours of training with health professionals. These staffers are then able to answer anonymous questions over email or social media and are available for in-person meetings in Sex Out Loud’s office.
Kim said these staffers are also unique because they do not just focus on educating peers on how to prevent pregnancy and STIs, they focus on pleasure as well.
“When we talk about comprehensive sexuality education we’re not just talking about how to use a condom,” Kim said. “One of our values is stigma reduction — we’re talking about how can we look at sex and student sexuality in a positive light that supports all students on this campus.”
Sex Out Loud also conducts programs and provides free safe sex resources such as condoms.
After the presentation, Rep. Landon Tselepis asked Kim how Sex Out Loud’s safe sex resources differed from the resources available at University Health Services. Kim said that Sex Out Loud has the largest selection and that they receive student input when selecting which products to buy.
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Kim said that Sex Out Loud’s inclusion of all students and their sex-positive standpoint makes them a unique and necessary resource on campus.
“If we lived in a perfect world Sex Out Loud wouldn’t have to exist but unfortunately that’s not the case and that means that we still need to be here and we need to have the resources to provide this type of knowledge to our students,” Kim said.
SSFC then voted on the GSSF eligibility of the SVA. Vice-Chair Tessa Reilly moved to approve eligibility for SVA because they met all of the criteria.
SSFC then voted on granting SVA GSSF eligibility, which was granted with a vote of 7-0-2. SSFC will meet again Thursday where they will vote on Sex Out Loud’s GSSF eligibility and will also be swearing in and training new members.
