Grand Valley State University’s Recreation and Wellness (RecWell) Department announced a new sexual education series. The topics will include condoms, safer sex practices, hookup culture, pleasure, foreplay, pain during sexual intercourse, LGBTQIA+ sexual health, pornography and more.

According to the 2018 National College Health Assessment data, 74% of GVSU students are sexually active, slightly higher than the national average of 67.5%. Regardless of if individuals are sexually active or not, prioritizing sexual health alongside mental, physical and emotional health is important and beneficial. 

This initiative is run by GVSU students who work for RecWell. These individuals are a part of the Wellness Information Team (WIT) and are trained to discuss health and wellness issues. 

The sexual education series is meant to create open conversations with the campus community to provide more information about sexual health and promote sex-positive messages in order to create a more educated student body.

“Our goal is to choose topics that are important for and related to students of all identities, including genders and sexual orientations,” said Katie Jourdan, the Student Health Promotions Coordinator with Recreation and Wellness.

Jourdan hopes that the series’ blog will be able to address concerns and help break down the stigma around sexual health. By opening up these conversations to the student body, RecWell hopes to create a comprehensive sexual education for students.

In order to create an open discussion, students can raise questions to the WIT team. 

“(GVSU RecWell) also offers a new service called Ask WIT where students can submit a question anonymously to the WIT Peer Educators and it will be posted with an answer within 3-5 days,” Jourdan said.

Each Wednesday, the WIT team will upload a new post for the series. The sexual health series’ posts will be on the RecWell blog at www.gvsu.edu/rec/blog. 

Additionally, RecWell is providing other sexual health initiatives across campus. For instance, students can request WIT Peer Educator presentations through the student wellness website on a variety of sexual health topics. 

“Condom Palooza” is an upcoming Zoom event hosted on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. This event celebrates National Condom Day and will discuss all things condoms along with a condom care package. To RSVP or receive more information, visit GVSU’s Recreation and Wellness website. 

RecWell also emphasizes the importance of openness with healthcare providers along with educational resources. Within the conversations, people are able to further address topics like pleasure and discomfort during sexual activities, consent, STIs, contraceptives and menstrual hygiene through a professional.