This week, Claremont Mckenna College (CMC) is hosting its third annual “Sex Week”. The event was created in 2016 and is hosted by the CMC Advocates for Survivors, an organization that “provides confidential support to survivors of any type of sexual violence, in any way needed including counseling, support groups, and reporting or of any type of sexual violence, in any way needed including counseling, support groups, and reporting.” Several events have been planned for Monday through Wednesday with a “Sex Carnival” capping off the events on Thursday.
The pre-eminent speaker at Monday’s events, Ashley Manta, considers herself “cannasexual” and is a proponent of mixing cannabis and sex. She was also dubbed “America’s High Priestess of Pleasure” by Sexual Health Magazine according to her website. She is hosting events titled “Sex After Trauma” and “Positively Safe”. The former event focused on “[l]earning about how to be supportive of loved ones who are survivors as they navigate their healing journey, as well as how to take care of yourself if you are a survivor” while the latter focused on the various aspects of having “safe” sex and “how to take care of yourself and your prospective partner(s) if you do happen to receive a positive test result.”
Tuesday’s headlining speaker is Andre Shakti. Her Cosmopolitan author’s biography describers her as “an educator, producer, activist, and sex worker devoted to normalizing alternative desires, de-stigmatizing sex workers and their partners, and not taking herself too seriously.” Another profile on Thrillist.com describers her as a “queer journalist, educator, performer, activist, and professional slut” who “wrestles mediocre white men into submission and writes about the Resistance”. She is headlining three events: an “Exotic Dance Workshop”, “Sex Tips for the Modern Slut” and “Safe(r) Sex for Queers”. The Second event’s Facebook description is as follows:
“We’ve all been taught to wield the word “slut” as a weapon, but what if we lived in a world where we carried it as a badge of honor? In this unprecedented age of unapologetic sexual empowerment, you must be fluent in the principles and practices of ethical sluttery in order to wear your badge with pride. Join professional slut Andre Shakti as she debunks harmful myths and stereotypes, shares her best “tools of the trade”, and invites curiosity and conversation around being the sexual superhero you want to see in the world.”
Wednesday’s speaker is Mia Little, a returning speaker and pornography actress. She has been involved in each of the prior sex weeks where she has given lectures on BDSM. This year she is hosting a “BDSM Workshop” and a second event titled “Deconstructing Hookup Culture”. The BDSM event will focus on “safe words” and will also host a demo bottom to demonstrate “hand oriented kinks including but not limited to spanking, domination, punching, and hair pulling”.
The Sex Carnival ending the weeklong event lasts for three hours and includes “FREE TACOS FROM THE TACO LADY, a Consent Bake Sale, Pin the Clitoris On the Vagina, a Photo booth, a Body Positivity Wall, and a One Night Stand Stand”. Tickets for the tacos, bake sale and photo booth could be earned by attending the various events held earlier in the week.
CMC Advocates received over $10,000 in funding this year from the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College, a student government organization that collects its income through mandatory student fees. The current student fee is $285 dollars per student. This year, the event also brought back free and confidential sexually-transmitted infection (STI) testing after these resources were not funded last year.