Protection is never a game.
Except for Friday night during Shippensburg University’s annual condom bingo, where bingo night took a break from the usual.
More than 250 students gathered around tables in the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) multi-purpose room. The tables were covered in more than 4,000 condoms of every fashion, including female condoms, Trojan brand condoms and condoms in a variety of flavors. The condoms were free to all participants.
Sexologist Jill McDevitt hosted the event. McDevitt said one of the reasons she became a sexologist was because of issues with traditional sex education.
McDevitt pointed out that many times sex educators focus on worst-case scenario symptoms for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), like extreme rashes and oozing puss.
“This is really not a helpful way to do sex ed. Not only is it scare-tactic based, but it also doesn’t present the most common types of symptoms. So if someone has an infection, they’re not going to notice” McDevitt said.
“You’re very fortunate that you’re going to college at a time when we can talk about [sex] more openly,” McDevitt said.
Sexual pleasure is important and healthy, according to McDevitt, who was eager to demonstrate safety methods.
In between rounds of bingo, McDevitt took the stage, calling up student volunteers for demonstrations. In one activity students were given cards with different sexual experiences written on the front, and asked to silently arrange from lowest to highest disease risk.
In another demonstration, McDevitt demonstrated proper condom use with a gigantic condom and a participant who stood in as a penis.
Bingo prizes include a 28-inch television, board game set, SU merchandise and more.
The Women’s Center, Kappa Delta Phi, The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Activities Programming Board (APB), Rape Educators and Contacts (REACT) and Theta Xi sponsored the event.
All proceeds went to Women in Need (WIN) of Franklin and Cumberland Counties.
WIN is an organization dedicated to helping victims, survivors and significant others of those who have been subjected to domestic violence and sexual assault.
Approximately 250 students attended the event, and the first 200 attendees received a free “consent is sexy” tank top.
Condom bingo was held Nov. 14 from 9-11:30 p.m.and $5 at the door.
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