During a week that the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) claims is supposed to be full of events promoting fun, healthy sexuality, Wednesday night’s Sex Toy Bingo appeared to have missed its mark.
Despite a packed house, multiple students were seen leaving early commenting about feeling frustrated with the organization and being uncomfortable with how the game was hosted.
Student Rachel Friars, who attended the event, was not impressed with the tone of the evening.
“It didn’t adhere to what sex week is actually about. Rather than being educational and fun, it turned into a circus and a spectacle for students to be humiliated,” Friars said.
Friars thinks the SRC missed the point with the event.
“The SRC failed this year. They are supposed to be organizing fun events for students to enjoy themselves and be comfortable in an environment and with a topic that can often be alienating,” Said Friars.
While not disagreeing with Friars, Megan Rathje, Arts Representative on the SRC, put a more positive spin on things saying, “there was a great turnout, the event has been a standing tradition and it’s great to see that it was still a success”.
“At times these events can be crude and questionable but it depends on the audience,” said Jenna Evans, vice president social of the SRC who organized and co-hosted the event.
Compared to the sex toy bingo event last year, hosted by Laura Jane Gordon, there was a lack in sexual education. Although Gordon’s event did tie in 50 Shades of Grey because its release to theatres, there was added stress on the importance of consent, safe sex, and how to perform BDSM safely.
Last year’s event also contained sex-related trivia and jokes, along with some simple sexual phrases for the ‘bingo’s, to keep the crowd interested without possible cause for embarrassment, which according to attendees was severely muted at this years event, with the issue of consent not being brought up at all.
Evans says she didn’t intend for the event to be an uncomfortable experience for those in attendance.
“At the beginning of the event I went up to the front of the room and mentioned to the audience if anything made them feel uncomfortable in any way they could just claim the prize,” said Evans.
The event runs just like a regular game of bingo, students trying to dab their way to a win.
Where the event differed from the regular game, aside from offering sex toys as prizes, was also the crowd interaction when a “bingo” was called. In lieu of the traditional phrase, winners had to shout “oh my gosh I just came” or something similar, securing their prize from the assortment of nearly $800 worth of sex toys purchased by the SRC.
The list of phrases and tasks only intensified as the price-range increased, elevating to fake ‘orgasm’ noises, answering a truth or dare (one being an exhilarating strip-tease), Never Have I Ever, and providing a visual example of a sexual position with a partner.
The final rounds included a sexual moan, the players favourite phrase they say while ‘finishing’ and a quick game of truth or dare before they could claim their prize–plus an ‘orgasm off’ competition when two were tied for the prize.
Friars noted that, “there were several people in the crowd, who got bingo and were either extremely reluctant to go up, or did not go up at all.”
By the time the evening was drawing to a close, it was clear students were becoming embarrassed, bored, or exhausted, foregoing their prizes to avoid the embarrassing and awkward fake moaning.
Evans said that, “I believe the event overall went well. We had a 70-80 people turn out. […] I had so many comments about how much fun people had at the event.”
Although much of the crowd seemed uncomfortable or unwilling to claim their prizes, many people seemed to enjoy the night and were thoroughly involved in the bingo, cheering and making noises even when they were not the ones who had won, despite missing key elements of what the SRC claims sex week is all about.
