The U of T Sexual Education Centre will kick off its annual Sexual Awareness Week with a party at a swinger club that’s being billed as an “epic student sex adventure”.
The event will be held at the Oasis Aqua Lounge, a water-themed “adult playground”, as a way to introduce students to Toronto’s club scene. Initial reports from sources like The Toronto Star have mentioned detractors and jokers calling the party an “orgy”.
“There [will be] a dance floor and music playing […] there’s also a pool—the source of a great snowball fight last year—a hot tub, sauna, etc.,” explained Kayla Wright, executive director of SEC, in an email interview. “One of the reasons that we’ve selected Oasis Aqua Lounge is that it’s a great venue with a ton of stuff to offer.”
The first floor of the Oasis Club will be reserved for dancing, music, and social activities. On the higher floors, students will be able to have sex in a clean and safe environment should they choose to. SEC volunteers will be providing safe sex materials and security will be on site to ensure guests have a safe and respectful time.
“We feel that sex positivity is about supporting and encouraging people to find their own happy mediums, while being happy that other people are also doing the same,” said Wright. “The social is actually much more akin to a pub crawl,” commented event coordinator Dylan Tower on Reddit, in response to posters referring to it as an orgy. “Ideally, people will find it a nice break in the midst of a dreary weekend semester.”
With regards to the permission to have sex upstairs, Tower noted, “I suppose the best way I can convey this is that ‘permission to’ is different from ‘encouraged to’ and very different from ‘required to’. Individuals can make the adult, informed decisions.”
Tower’s description is corroborated by the experience of Tam, a student who attended the Oasis party last year. “It was really chill and relaxed,” she said in an email interview. “We mostly swam in the outdoor pool, which was awesome since it’s heated and hung out in the hot tub and at the bar. People were naked in the hot tub and pool, but it was not sexual in the slightest.”
The Oasis party is only the second kickoff event the club has hosted. In past years, the SEC has started Sexual Awareness week by showing the film Orgasm Inc. and holding poetry slams and game nights. Each event was chosen to contribute to the purpose of the party: to let students have fun and foster sex-positive attitudes in a low-pressure environment.
To students considering going to the party but are unsure if they’d be comfortable, Tam gives some advice. “I would recommend coming earlier in the day when the clothing rule is in effect,” she says. “And remember that when you’re there you don’t have to do anything that you’re not comfortable with.”
The Oasis party will have a $5 entry fee.
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