Reporter
On Tuesday Nov. 27, 2018, CSU Bakersfield held its second annual Sexual Ethics Education Fair, put on by Club Gender Equality Now! The fair included exhibits, interactive booths, HIV testing, and other resources by Club GEN and other CSUB sexual ethics students.
Brianna Santaella, a junior majoring in ethnic studies and a member of Club GEN, said the fair started with Dr. Debra Jackson teaching a sexual ethics course at CSUB.
“Dr. Jackson is our Club GEN advisor and randomly came to one of our meetings to ask if we would want to put on a fair that went along with the class.”
Santaella said the event was “made to be interactive with the students of CSUB so we can bring awareness to things like getting birth control or condoms and normalizing sex, so it isn’t such a taboo topic.”
“This fair is important with the rape culture on college campuses because we also have exhibits about what consent is and how to know if your partner is consenting in sex or not,” Santaella said.
This year, the event was passed onto religious studies professor Kathleen Hanson, who teaches a sexual ethics course. Many of her students created projects for the fair. Violeta Trujillo, a junior communications major enrolled in Hanson’s class, thinks the fair is an important event.
“We assume that people have a lot of sex education, but in reality, we aren’t as educated as we should be when it comes to the students of CSUB. Students are probably engaging in some kind of sexual activity, so we should bring awareness to precautions and this fair is a good way to get students involved in an educational way,” Trujillo said.
There were many exhibits at the fair, each dealing with a different aspect of sex. With the goal of education, topics like BDSM, sex in the LGBTQ+ community, how to safely navigate through Tinder, and more were all displayed.
Exhibits presented in the streets also dealt with the misconceptions of certain aspects of sex.
Allison Cheatwood, a senior psychology major, created a board with her religious studies group on substance use and how it affects sex.
“Substance isn’t something we’re assuming everyone is doing, but we’re coming at it with an approach of ‘here are the sexual side effects to this substance,’” said Cheatwood.
Substances included on Cheatwood’s board were alcohol, Viagra, and marijuana. According to her project, alcohol can create difficulties getting and maintaining an erection, Viagra can cause sexual dysfunction, and marijuana can affect testosterone levels.
Cheatwood said, “collectively, we want them to be educated on the substances out there that are easy to get, and the side effects they have on your sex life,” but as a whole, she said that idea encompasses the event.
“Know what’s out there and know what happens when you mix it with sex,” Cheatwood said. “This event is important because it raises awareness and education about sex. If people aren’t educated, that’s when people get in trouble, and that’s the point of this event.”
