Course To Teach Ins and Outs of Female Sex

Look beyond the Courses of Instruction this shopping period to find a class that’s stimulating in more than one way. This spring, Harvard will join University of California, Berkeley and Brown University in offering a student-organized course on female sexuality for women.

Focusing on open discussions and student concerns, Harvard’s new Female Sexuality (FemSex) class will cover a range of topics including female anatomy, portrayals of sexuality, health issues, erotica, and violence against women.

With limited enrollment of 20 students, the class, sponsored by the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) in coordination with the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, will be geared primarily towards empowering women.

“There is a big lack of information and conversation about all things related to relationships, sexuality, and sex [on campus],” FemSex undergraduate coordinator Andrea V. Halpern ’07 said. “This is an opportunity to explore these issues in a more concrete and well-designed setting.”

Information sessions for interested applicants will be held in Ticknor Lounge at 1 p.m. this Saturday and at 8 p.m. next Monday. During the introductory events, participants will hear testimonies from Brown students and class facilitators as well as complete an on-site course application.

This spring, the course will be led by Maithri F. Ameresekere and Anne M. Montgomery from the Harvard School of Public Health. In following semesters, students who have taken the class may apply to become undergraduate facilitators who will lead future FemSex classes, Montgomery said.

Though the course is not for credit, participants will be expected to complete an array of assignments including self-exploration and detailing sexual experiences, culminating with a creative final project.

Impressed by the popularity of the Female Orgasm Seminar organized by RUS this fall, attended by over 500 students, FemSex undergraduate coordinator Katherine E. Rieser ’07 said she saw enough need and interest on campus to establish a forum where students can safely discuss women’s issues.

“FemSex will provide a setting that isn’t academic where students can reflect on their personal experiences and figure out how to live the lives that are the healthiest,” Montgomery said.

The class will also feature a selection of guest speakers and various relevant excursions. A glimpse at Berkeley’s 2005 FemSex syllabus shows speakers ranging from a professional dominatrix to a practicing midwife. Montgomery also projected that the class will possibly make trips to a local strip club, the sexuality boutique The Grand Opening, and the Museum of Sex in New York City.

During its first semester, the course will be largely dependent on student feedback, Halpern said. Topics of discussion may include final clubs, Harvard’s sexual assault policy, the lack of social space on campus, and other issues specific to the Harvard community.

“We want [FemSex] to evolve to meet the needs of the student body,” Montgomery said. “It’s a creative process without a specific end goal in sight besides getting diverse groups together to talk about sexual issues.”

Because the class is capped, applicants will be screened based on their written responses to short essay questions given during the informational sessions. The questions are designed to assess their interest in the class and ability to talk openly and respectfully about the issues covered in the syllabus, Ameresekere said.

Students will also be required to sign a “safe space contract” to ensure an environment of mutual trust and confidentiality within the class. A nominal fee between $10 and $30 will be charged to pay for printing materials.

Describing her personal FemSex experience at U.C. Berkeley, Montgomery recalled being uncomfortable at first but said she ultimately found the class to be an “amazing cathartic experience.”

According to Montgomery, the open discussion-based nature of the class helped her realize, “I’m not that weird, not that funky or kinky. It completely changed my view of the world.”

Conceived in 1994, FemSex began as an independent study project started by two students at U.C. Berkeley who ultimately proposed a complete course syllabus and suggested readings to faculty members. Once approved, it debuted as a class about erotica but soon expanded to take on topics such as sexuality and reproductive choice as student interest grew, Montgomery said.

The course came to Brown in Spring 2003, after Montgomery contacted faculty and interested students to set up the program. Now in its third year at Brown, FemSex currently has four sessions running and is enrolling nearly 5 percent of their undergraduate women population, Montgomery said. Due to popular demand, the U.C, Berkeley program has also expanded to include more than six sessions.

FemSex at Harvard is scheduled to meet on Monday and Wednesday nights from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Due the nature of the course, the location will not be disclosed publicly.

—Staff writer Ying Wang can be reached at yingwang@fas.harvard.edu