What is sex week and why is it important?

Sex Week offers a week of comprehensive, queer-inclusive, culturally-specific, sex-positive sexual health events and conversations. Comprehensive sexual health education has been identified as an essential pillar of sexual violence primary prevention. Yet, on average, high school students in the United States receive less than 11 hours of instruction on human sexuality, HIV, and STI and pregnancy prevention throughout the tenure of their education. To fill this gap in knowledge, the Well for Health Promotion has teamed up with offices, departments, and student organizations throughout Tulane’s community to reframe sex education for a collegiate community.

Who is sex week for?

Sex Week is for all people. Sex Week is an invitation for all people to step into a space of sexual empowerment and wellness, one that centers their pleasure, safety, and choices. Sex Week encourages students to speak about sex, sexual health, and sexual identity from their unique perspective and it calls the campus community to meet their speech with celebration and radical sex-positivity.

Learning objectives

  • Provide opportunities for students to explore and identify their expectations and boundaries around pleasure, relationships, sexual interactions, and safer sex practices.
  • Center conversations for and facilitated by QTBIPOC students about sexual health and empowerment.
  • Offer sexual health and wellness education focused on safer sex practices and the prevention of negative health outcomes such as unintended pregnancy and STI transmission.
  • Increase acceptance of social norms around body sovereignty, equitable power dynamics, behaviors of healthy relationships, and sex positivity and the rejection of rape culture and myths.
  • Normalize conversations around pleasure, desire, sexual gratification as pillars of personal sexual health and wellness.