Photo courtesy of Ben Weeble | Xavier’s Sex Week began with the “Kiss My Pink XU” event, which drew criticism from Xavier College Republicans.
Controversy sparked with the launch of Xavier’s first-ever “Sex Week.” However, as Aimee Boivin and Devi Jagadesan acknowledged, the backlash was expected and is encouraged.
“It’s to cause some controversy, to cause some conversation points,” Jagadesan, the Student Government Association’s student rights and identity chair, said, “and we’re reaching that goal right now.”
Boivin, president of Xavier Democrats, added, “We just want to challenge the status quo, specifically on the university’s policy regarding birth control and contraceptives on campus.”
The mixed feedback stems from a video released Nov. 6 entitled, “Kiss My Pink XU.” The video was produced in collaboration with Xavier Against Sexual Assault to “raise awareness of the importance of student accessibility to birth control and contraception,” according to the description included on the YouTube page.
The same day, the Xavier College Republicans released a public statement on its Twitter page commenting on the usage of the hashtag “#KissMyPink.”
After affirming that the group “stands with the survivors of sexual assault,” the statement explains that the club is not sponsoring Sex Week because the hashtag comes from a social justice movement, “The Lipstick Lobby,” which “sells the lipstick ‘Kiss my pink’ and donates 100% of the profits to Planned Parenthood,” according to the statement. It further says that the club condemns the use of the hashtag “as the posters do not explain that (it) supports Planned Parenthood.”
“Being against sexual assault and raising awareness about it is a no-brainer issue for everyone,” senior Philosophy, Politics and the Public major Evan Ward said, “but I think how they’re going about it… is unnecessarily politicizing the issue.”
Ward also expressed concern about the potential message being sent by the video.
“Even though the video pointed out that less than 54 percent of us are Catholic,” Ward said, “it’s still a Catholic institution regardless of the demographics. If we’re going to call ourselves a Catholic university, we should act like a Catholic university.”
Boivin said that the College Republicans were invited to be a part of Sex Week.
“They opted not to respond to my email,” Boivin said. “Had they decided to actually be part of the week, I would have welcomed a discussion.”
Where Jagadesan, Boivin and Ward do agree is that sex education is lacking on campus and that action should be taken to rectify that. Biovin and Jagadesan expressed interest in making Sex Week an annual event.
Despite the discord, Sex Week continues. Tuesday night, a fundraiser for Women Helping Women was held at Delicio Pizza. Students could order a pizza or a “kiss my pink” drink, which, as the name suggests, was pink in color and fruity in flavor. Today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a photoshoot will be held in the Fenwick Atrium in which students can have photos taken of themselves holding signs with statements such as “shameless” and “my body, my choice.”
“It’s going to be awesome, it’s going to be fun,” Jagadesan said. “They get to wear pink lipstick. It’s just going to be all around a great time.”
By: Soondos Mulla-Ossman ~Copy Editor~
3 responses to “Responses to Sex Week vary”
[…] Students were invited to participate in a photoshoot holding signs that read “shameless” and “my body, my choice,” a common pro-abortion phrase, student publication The Xavier Newswire reports. […]
[…] the school, they will be unsuccessful. Pro-life advocate and Catholic student, Evan Ward, told the Xavier Newswire, “Even though the video pointed out that less than 54 percent of us are Catholic, it’s […]
[…] they will be unsuccessful. Skilled-life advocate and Catholic scholar, Evan Ward, instructed the Xavier Newswire, “Though the video recognized that decrease than 54 p.c of us are Catholic, it’s nonetheless a […]