Week explores innovations in sex

This week, the health center is on a mission to discover new frontiers of sexuality as it presents its annual Sexploration Week.

Started in 2008, the third Sexploration Week will help educate IU students in human sexuality and explore innovative and provocative research on sex.

Sponsors for this year’s Sexploration Week include Health & Wellness Education, IU Health Center; Union Board; The Kinsey Institute; Bloomington Hospital’s Positive Link; Planned Parenthood; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services and Pure Romance, Inc.

Kathryn Brown, a health educator for Health and Wellness Education, said she believes this week’s events are highly beneficial to students.

“I think it’s great that we are able to give students a variety of experiences that they will probably not get in the classroom,” Brown said.

The week, she said, will combine visual and interactive exhibits with lectures from visiting guest speakers.

The Health Center will also have the 38th annual Health Fair on Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union.

The event will include free screenings, information, snacks, mocktails and other activities.

This year’s group of speakers includes University of Chicago clinical faculty member David Teplica with his lecture, “Pleasure and Plastic Surgery: Reshaping Gender and Genetics,” and filmmaker Liz Canner, who will present her documentary, “Orgasm, Inc.: The Strange Science of Female Pleasure.”

Teplica, whose lecture will focus on social, business and sexual implications of surgical manipulation, combines art and medicine with photos of the human body — pre- and post-surgery.

The guest speaker also delves into each of his patients’ wishes and concerns when they decide to choose plastic surgery.

“He spends a lot of time thinking of people’s desires of changing their bodies,” Jennifer Bass, director of communications at the Kinsey Institute, said of Teplica. “He is also a therapist that helps his patients with gender and body identity.”

Canner tackles female sexual dysfunction in “Orgasm, Inc.” The documentary recounts Canner’s experiences at a pharmaceutical company that is working to develop a drug for women’s sexual pleasure.

The film also provides insight into female sexual arousal and addresses common myths about female pleasure.

Canner said she hopes her film is able to educate students about this serious issue.

“The movie tries to debunk misinformation on female sexual dysfunction displayed by a lot of the media,” Canner said. “It also shows us where we are as a nation for women’s sexuality and female pleasure.”

“Orgasm, Inc” will provide a look on sexuality that might not be provided in the classroom, she said.

The film will be followed by a question and answer session with Canner, who will also be visiting a human sexuality class on campus during her visit.