Consent is Sexy
Allison Selsing attended the Hub's Consexual Carnival. An event put on by resident advisors to promote consent and healthy sexual relationships.
The Hub hosted a carnival for healthy, consensual relationships
Todd Colin Vaughan, Publishing Editor
On Nov. 15, the Hub played host to the Consexual Carnival — the final event of a weeklong series that promoted healthy relationships at Mount Royal University.
The night had several inventive games, put on by MRU resident advisors (RA), which promoted consensual, healthy relationships for students — including popping condom balloons on the dance floor and a consensual auction.
“We put on events that are educational and relevant for our residents,” RA and event organizer Margo Lore said. “We decided to expand it to our whole student body, so anyone who wanted could come.
“It’s all about promoting consent and safe sex and anti-rape culture on campus.”
She added that it’s important for students to have a voice when it comes to their sex lives and stressed the importance of communicating about sex with their partners.
“We want to people to feel like they are supported at Mount Royal, and that this is a school that doesn’t support rape culture.”
MRU student Allison Selsing attended the event and said that she generally feels safe on campus, and doesn’t mind walking around on campus at night. However, she did stress the importance of bring up rape culture conversations on campus.
“The more we bring it up, the less we sweep it under the rug,” she added.
The carnival comes in light of a recent controversy at MRU, as a result of an article written by the Reflector that condemned the condoms created by MRU Confessions, that lead to intense debate over the existence of rape culture on campus.
“It’s very ironic that this has gone down, but I think that it shows what Mount Royal students really believe and support,” Lore said. “I think that event has even helped us even more because people realize how applicable and relevant our event is.”
Selsing added that the Confessions controversy means that students are probably taking rape culture too lightly on campus.
Despite the current relevance of the topic, Lore hopes that students take the lessons of consent and proper relationship behaviour into the future.
“I would like them to take away a healthy understanding of sex and empowerment and be able to talk about it and what they want,” Lore said.
