UW-Madison student organization Sex Out Loud hopes to maintain outreach this year through campuswide events and distribution of safe sex supplies, according to its Outreach and Events Coordinator Miriam Kelberg.
Kelberg said Sex Out Loud provides education and information on healthy sexuality, and tries to engage as many people as possible with the goal of destigmatizing sexuality so that everyone can learn and not be ashamed of their bodies.
Sex Out Loud developed in the 1990s as a response to HIV, according to Kelberg, but has evolved to provide a variety of other services, including educational programs on birth control, healthy relationships and consent.
In addition to presenting these programs for Greek life, residence halls and other student organizations, Sex Out Loud holds events on campus like World AIDS Day, which Kelberg said will create a space that is both educational and entertaining.
“It should be fun when we’re talking about sexuality,” Kelberg said.
The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee approved Sex Out Loud’s budget for the 2016-’17 fiscal year, totaling $103,398.00, during its meeting Monday.
SSFC Vice Chair Brett DuCharme said Sex Out Loud’s budget for supplies was much larger than other student organizations on campus due to their purchases of safe sex supplies to hand out to the student body.
Sex Out Loud purchased roughly 120,000 condoms last year, according to Kelberg, and she said more students are taking advantage of this service than ever before, which she attributed to the organization’s greater outreach in the campus community.
Kelberg said Sex Out Loud’s work is important because for many students, any previous sex education may have been incomplete, tending toward heteronormative or patriarchal ideals, or being “just not good enough.”
The organization also aims to promote a consent culture on campus. Kelberg said students need to be able to talk about sexuality and consent to understand what consent looks like, and Sex Out Loud encourages those discussions.
“I think that’s one of our biggest assets, is that we can help create that consent culture and I think we’re doing that,” Kelberg said. “I think that where we reach, we’re changing people.”
