sports // volleyball>> v-reds snag the unb invitational; pg. 15
Volume 144 · Issue 7 • October 20, 2010
www.thebruns.ca
brunswickan canada’s oldest official student publication.
The sex issue: get in between our sheets
What’s the dirty secret behind sex? The Bruns strips down to find the naked truth and offers perspectives from almost every facet of Human Sexuality. Check out all the sexrelated content in every section. Ashley Theriault / The Brunswickan.
Hilary Paige Smith News Editor Campus just got sexier. UNB’s annual Sexuality Awareness Week kicked off on Monday and the popular, information-based event continues through Friday. Hosted by the Sexuality Centre, Sexuality Awareness Week is a chance for the student body to learn about healthy and safe sex practices. Karlie Hanoski, co-ordinator of the UNB Sexuality Centre, was enthusiastic about the week’s events and excited to get them underway. “We’re trying to encompass as many different facets of sexuality as we can,” she said of an underlying theme for the week’s events. Kissing Booths will be set up on campus throughout the week. Not your traditional carnival booth on the mid-way,
the kissing booths will have information about sexual health, sex, as well as a trivia game. Guessing right will win you a Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss. Guessing wrong will get you a sour candy. Hanoski said the aim of the booths is to help people learn about sex-related issues. “I think it’s really important (people come to Sexuality Awareness Week events), especially for students who haven’t had these issues discussed in their high schools, even just in my contact with first year students during Orientation Week, I definitely got a sense that there’s a need for educating students on these issues,” Hanoski said. Hanoski said some of the biggest problems she sees with students visiting the centre deal with contraception, like safely storing condoms and properly taking birth control pills. “I think there’s a huge information gap there (with contraception) so it’s import-
ant to be getting that info out.” Hanoski said Talk Sex with Sue Johanson, taking place tonight in the SUB Ballroom at 7 p.m., is an event all students should take in. “She’s been to campus before and she’s absolutely fabulous. I didn’t get to see her last time, so I’m doubly excited. That’ll be really great and it’s especially a great opportunity for people to get their questions answered by a professional,” Hanoski said, adding there are question cards available for students at the Welcome Centre and Sexuality Centre. All question cards for the event are confidential. Sexuality Awareness Week traditionally takes place early on in the semester so the centre can spread knowledge as early as possible. The week also serves to promote the centre as a resource for students on campus.
“I think by putting it out there and taking it downstairs from the third floor it makes it less intimidating and hopefully students will be more receptive to making use of the centre and if you can talk about those issues openly and candidly and take away the shame and the taboo, I think that’s a good thing,” she said. Hanoski was unsure if other campuses across the country participate in sexuality awareness weeks, but said she hopes they do. Sexuality Awareness Week continues until Friday with another Kissing Booth. On Thursday evening a showing of Kinsey will take place at the Women’s Centre at 7 p.m. Friday will be devoted to the LGBTQ community with a number of booths and a Safe Spaces presentation at 4:30 p.m. in the Sexuality Centre. For more information about Sexuality Awareness Week, email sexuality@unb.ca or call the centre at 452-6272.