Sex, Yale, and true love

Michael Sloan

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Not everyone, to be sure, is a fan of Sex Week. The biennial student-run celebration of (most) things sexual has tended toward the sensational in the past, with appearances by porn stars and workshops on sex toys. Last year, in a report on the campus's sexual climate, an advisory committee called for Yale to disassociate itself from Sex Week, saying the event had "lost the focus of its stated intention" of providing sex education.

President Richard Levin '74PhD instead invited Sex Week's organizers to go back to the drawing board. The revised Sex Week in February included serious discussions about sexual harassment, contraception, and other topics. To be sure, there was still time for workshops on "bawdy storytelling" and "XXX haiku."

The new Sex Week wasn't reformed enough for a group called Undergraduates for a Better Yale College, which sponsored a concurrent event called True Love Week. Their panels focused on relationships and marriage, in keeping with their goal of promoting "a better sexual culture, one grounded in genuine respect and self-giving love."