A sex education program led by "Reverend Pleasure" about the ways in which those with "intersecting identities" can use "pleasure" as a form of "resistance" was held at California’s Scripps College last month.
The interactive workshop, titled "Sexuality and Identity: Pleasure, Power, and Resistance," was held Oct. 26 by the Queer-Allied Student Union, or FAMILY, and was guided by Latishia James—the "Reverend"—and Kate McCombs, both of O. School, an online program described as a "radical pleasure based sex education platform with a zero-harassment policy specifically designed to create accessible spaces for POC, women, and gender diverse individuals."
Students at Scripps, a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium of five sister schools, were asked to "come out to do some learning, emotional growth, and reflection on how our own experiences with sex and sexuality are influenced by systems of power and oppression."
According to a report in Claremont Colleges weekly the Student Life, participants were split into two groups based on race, "people of color" and "non-POC." They were given two minutes to speak "confidentially" about how their "intersecting identities" impact their pleasure.
"Participants found [the exercise] challenging, but meaningful, to speak in such an intimate environment about topics so rarely discussed," wrote the Student Life.
The speakers described how O. School redefines pleasure terms based on intersectionality—"self-care" and the "mere act of existing" are reimagined as forms of "resistance"—as part of the company's "Un-Learn" campaign to re-frame sex.
"As folks with multiple identities, we get to determine what [pleasure] means," James said. "Because society has already put us in the box of the 'other,' you get to exploit that a little bit. You get to say, 'If you're going to "other" me, and tell me that my relationships aren't real, then I'm going to use that to my advantage.'"
"What is pleasure to you? What would it mean to use your pleasure to resist all the ways that society tries to further marginalize you, further oppress you, the ways that other people try to cause you harm? What keeps you from your pleasure?" asked James.
Last week, James and McCombs also participated in Scripps' sister school Claremont McKenna College's first annual "sex week," which featured programs like a "sex carnival" and a "consent bake sale."
James gave a talk on sex after trauma to survivors, during which "Reverend Pleasure journeys with students to heal from traumas inflicted by religion, systems of power and oppression, sexual violence, and STI or HIV-stigma," according to the event description.
McCombs gave a talk on "Mindful + Healthy Safer Sex."