Erin Ahlefeld, Lions Eye Staff Writer, efa5068@psu.edu
On Tuesday, Feb. 14, students of Penn State Brandywine gathered together in the Lion’s Den during common hour for a discussion humorously known as Cupcakes and Condoms. The event was led by Sexologist, Dr. Justine Shuey. Dr. Shuey covered many different topics in her presentation including safe sex, healthy relationships, consent and the Five Circles of Sexuality.
“I really thought that this event was going to be a lecture on always using protection but it was a lot more than that. It was really educational and interesting and she (Dr. Shuey) did a great job of making it funny too,” said Penn State Brandywine student, Makayla Moses.
Dr. Shuey started off by introducing the most important organ in the body pertaining to intercourse; the brain. She showed the students the many ways that the brain is involved and why it is important to know as much as you can about it.
During this event, Dr. Shuey talked about much more than just using condoms as protection. One of the main topics she discussed was love. She taught about the three stages of falling in love and how love pertains to intercourse and how people are much more inclined to not use protection if they are in a “love-struck” stage.
Another key aspect she discussed was healthy relationships. The things that create a healthy relationship are safety, honesty, acceptance, respect and enjoyment.
“I think that openly discussing healthy relationships with college students is really important. We are definitely at the age where we should be creating boundaries and making sure that our relationships contain all the parts of a healthy one that Dr. Shuey discussed,” said Penn State Brandywine Student, Julia Poluch.
One topic that Dr. Shuey was very serious about was the topic of consent. She emphasized that “affirmative enthusiastic consent” is necessary when having any kind of relations with another person. She also made the point to tell everyone that silence does not mean “yes” and that “no” means “no” without any question.
“No is the end of the conversation. No does not mean ask why or try to convince me. No means no. Period,” said Dr. Justine Shuey, Sexologist.
Overall, this presentation from Sexologist, Justine Shuey was much more than just a lesson on the importance of condoms. She discussed many other topics that captured the attention of the audience. Her humor brought up laughs and the information she presented created questions among the audience and sparked an interest in the topic of safe and healthy relationships.