Harvard to host ‘BDSM and Kinks’ workshop as part of 13th annual ‘Sex Week,’ offers free sex toys
Harvard University will host its thirteenth annual 'Sex Week' from Nov. 3–9, featuring workshops on topics such as BDSM, ‘Anal 101,’ and ‘Banging Beyond the Binary.’
The event, organized by a student group and sponsored in part by Harvard-affiliated organizations, promotes progressive views on sex and gender.
“Sex Week” at Harvard University will run from Nov. 3-9 this year, marking the thirteenth consecutive installment of the event.
The week’s programming is primarily organized by Sexual Education by Harvard College Students (SEHCS), a student group that “invites local sex educators to campus to lead interdisciplinary, scholastic, and highly engaging workshops.”
One such educator is Jamie Joy, a self-identified “colorful whirlwind of ideas and radiant optimism” who will host an event on Nov. 8 entitled “BDSM and Kinks.” Joy led a similar event during Sex Week 2024, reportedly advising students that “to spank someone properly, you need to keep your fingers together and lightly cup your hand.”
By profession, Joy is a “queer trans Jewish certified sex educator whose life and work is committed to spreading joy, consent, and pleasure through community organizing.” Joy’s previous work has targeted a wide variety of audiences and events, including K-12 education environments, sex shops, and private events.
SEHCS has praised the quality of the so-called ‘sex’perts featured during past Sex Weeks, reassuring prospective attendees that they “do a fabulous job teaching our community about topics that range from ‘getting cliterate,’ to the philosophy of porn, to body positivity during intimacy, and so much more.”
According to an Instagram post advertising Sex Week, all events will offer attendees free food as well as free sex toys and supplies.
In addition to organizing Sex Week annually, SEHCS also organizes events throughout the academic year that are “dedicated to empowering members of the Harvard community to explore their experiences with love and sex by providing comprehensive sexual education,” including “Anal 101” and “Banging Beyond the Binary.”
SEHCS receives support for Sex Week and its other programs from a broad range of sponsors. In past years, the group’s backers have included sex product companies as well as Harvard-affiliated organizations such as the Center for Wellness and the College Women’s Center.
The week’s events have previously drawn criticism from several conservative students, including Harvard Salient contributor Richard Rodgers. In his piece “Reflections on Harvard’s Sex Week,” Rodgers especially bemoaned the stark rejection of Christian sexual norms that the event promotes.
”At its core, Sex Week capitalizes on a deeper tragedy: the separation of the physical act of sex from its God-given purpose,” Rodgers wrote. “At its most sacred, the union between man and woman is a covenant, set apart by natural law and informed by the wisdom of the ages.”
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Other large universities have also hosted “Sex Weeks,” including Portland State University. The programming featured an event called “Undoing Marianismo and Harmful Ideologies About Chicanx Sexuality’’ that criticized a cultural trend that the speaker described as the “cult of virginity.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.