Let’s talk about sex, McMaster

By: William Li

Have you ever wanted  to talk to your friends about obscure or unconventional sexual kinks but weren’t able to, because it felt weird or uncomfortable? The McMaster Sex-Posvitive Community is looking to change that, by providing students with a new, safe space to talk openly about sex and sexuality.

The McMaster Sex-Positive Community is aiming to fill a niche currently unoccupied by the McMaster Students Union. While the MSU provides services and resources for students, such as the Women and Gender Equity Network, the Queer Students Community Centre and the Student Health Education Centre, the McMaster Sex-Positive Community is a club geared towards promoting open discussion about sex and sexuality.

“Although you can totally walk into WGEN [or the QSCC or SHEC] and sit down and have a cool conversation with someone about sex for sure… I feel this is just a different way of approach because I feel like a lot of those services don’t touch on the more in-depth aspects of sexuality,” said Susie Ellis, club president and third-year Communications and Multimedia student.

“It’s like, yeah we can talk about sex, but what if you want to talk about a really specific kink [and] you’re like, ‘are people going to be okay to talk about this here?’ So I just want to create a space that’s open for people to just talk about whatever they’d like to regarding, specifically, the fun aspects of sex.”

Sex is still generally considered a taboo subject, especially when it comes to finer details and kinkier variants. However, the McMaster Sex-Positive Community is hoping that by promoting open discussion about sex and sexuality, they will normalize it, and thus make it easier for people to talk about sex and sexuality in a safe space.

“The more we talk about sex, sexuality, kink, anything related in that realm, it normalizes it, so when I talk to my friends about it… I find that it normalizes that conversation and allows people to bring up topics that they don’t think they might have been accepted to talk about… sex is normal and yeah, people should talk about it,” explained Ellis.

“This is a space where you can sort of get that off your chest and no one’s going to judge you about it, no matter what you say.”

Ellis grew up in a household open about sex and sexuality, and she eventually discovered the sex-blogging community in Toronto, after which she decided to start her own sex blog in order to vocalize her own thoughts on sex and sexuality. This led her to start up the McMaster Sex-Positive Community, which she hopes will provide other students with a similar opportunity to speak openly about sex and sexuality.

“Accept what you’re into, and if you feel any shame towards any of that stuff, come and talk to us and we can just have a conversation and create acceptance.”

Information regarding upcoming events can be found on the McMaster Sex-Positive Community’s Facebook page.