Washington and Lee’s Sexual Health Awareness Group (SHAG) hosted a series of events March 5-9, known as Sex Week, to promote  healthy sexual relationships on campus.

SHAG co-president Jake Sirota, ‘19, said SHAG hopes Sex Week will encourage discussion about healthy sex and sexuality on campus.

“Our goal is to promote the idea that no matter what someone’s personal relationship with sex is, it can benefit from reflection and education,” Sirota said in an email.

“We feel that sex is somewhat of a taboo topic on our campus, and without starting to talk about it, we can’t work on any of the problems that our campus has surrounding sex.”

Sexual Health Awareness Group and Sex Week was formed in 2013 by Sara J. Korash-Schiff, ‘15. Jan Kaufman, Kelsey Goodwin, and Janet Boller are currently co-advisors for Sexual Health Awareness Group.

Director of Health Promotion and SHAG co-advisor Jan Kaufman said, “I think SHAG is just trying to get people to feel comfortable talking about sex and sexuality.”

SHAG intends to connect diverse individuals and communities both within and beyond W&L through common human experiences with love, sex, sexuality, and relationships.

The popular keynote event “Sex in the Dark” took place last Thursday in Stackhouse, where students wrote down their questions about sex and sexuality and the two sexual experts, they called themselves “sexperts.”

“This event gave students the opportunity to ask questions and be engaged in thoughtful conversation, and to do it in a place where they felt comfortable and where no one was checking out who asked a particular question,” Kaufman said.

Current Washington and Lee student Anna Luttrell, ‘21, attended the “Sex in the Dark” event last Thursday in Stackhouse, where she felt the “sexperts” were very informative.

“Sex education is something that everyone needs to know and something that people should learn about in a neutral position,” said Luttrell. “I liked how ‘Sex in the Dark’ was set up because it was in the dark and the people facilitating it were very professional and well-spoken.”

Other Sex Week events throughout the week consisted of a trivia contest and talks led by professors and outside experts on different topics relating to sex and sexuality and their specific academic fields, including talks about sexuality in Ancient Rome and the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir.

Kaufman said she believes it is important for members of the student body to have these conversations as young adults.

“I think that defining what that means for you and finding what sexuality means for you is very important,” said Kaufman. “I can’t think of a better time than when you’re in college to start exploring and thinking about that.”

SHAG is planning on working with the W&L Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department in the future to put on more events throughout the year.