The sixth in the University of Wisconsin-Stout’s series of “Sex Speak Sessions” will be held Monday (Nov. 14) from 9 to 11 a.m. in the second floor lobby area of Heritage Hall, on the Menomonie campus.
The College of Education, Hospitality, Health and Human Sciences will provide free coffee, tea and snacks for participants. Two more sessions are in the planning stages.
The series is intended to bring dialogue about sex and sexuality out from behind closed doors. It began in September, and previous sessions have drawn as many as 40 participants.
Home page photo: Prof. Markie Twist, left, talks with a participant at a recent “Sex Speak Session” on the UW-Stout campus. Other sessions are planned in the city and region in the coming months. (Photo courtesy of UW-Stout Office of University Communications)
“I was amazed at how many people just showed up and sat down to talk and ask questions” at the first session, said Markie Twist, an associate professor and coordinator of the UW-Stout sex therapy certificate program. “It was very well received.”
Twist said that most of these sessions are designed to be frank, open, one-on-one question and answer discussions lasting from 15 to 45 minutes. They are held with trained educators or with alumni from the school’s sex therapy graduate certificate program.
Twist noted that people with complex questions can be referred to UW-Stout’s Marriage and Family Therapy Program’s clinical services center for follow-up and support. .
The goal of the series is to provide safe, confidential, nonjudgmental places to discuss important topics related to sexuality, according to Twist.
“No one should be without a safe space to honestly discuss sex and relationships,” Twist said. “The sessions are a small way to make the world a more sexually healthy and kind place for everyone.”
Twist borrowed the idea for these discussions from a colleague, Francisco Ramirez, who has offered similar sessions on the streets and in the parks of New York City since 2008. She and Ramirez recently collaborated with two fellow sexuality educator colleagues to co-author an academic journal article on sex education.
Participants must be at least 18 or be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
Session sponsors, all affiliated with UW-Stout, include the school’s sex therapy graduate certificate program; its Department of Human Development and Family Studies; College of Education, Hospitality, Health and Human Sciences; The Qube; and the Gender and Sexuality Alliance.
Some of the material for this article was provided by the Office of University Communications at UW-Stout.