These students put sex in perspective: ‘Acknowledge the clusterfuck’
Honours Class image: Buro JP
Discomfort obstructs scientific discussions about sex, argue Eva and Deva from the LOEF foundation. In their Bachelor Honours Class, students approach sex holistically. The results are positive: ‘I’ve become much more open about sex.’
While the students are entering the classroom, Eva is talking to some of them about their weekend. Deva asks a student how she's doing, since she knows she's going through a tough time. And later, during a presentation, a student tells the class she is having a bad day, classmates and teachers respond sympathetically.
One thing is clear: teachers Eva Bus and Deva Duveen from the LOEF Foundation care about creating a safe environment. They have been teaching for a few years now, mostly at schools. They developed these classes after they discovered that having a calm and objective conversation about sex is often difficult. ‘It quickly becomes personal’, Eva says.
Eva and Deva discovered that education that provides space for objective discussions about sex is scarce at universities. ‘Courses are often strictly biological or only focused on society. But a holistic approach is very important. We need to acknowledge the clusterfuck in which the problem exists’, says Deva, referring to the lack of collaboration between disciplines.
And that’s precisely what the Bachelor Honours Classes aim for: bringing together students from different academic disciplines.
A comic about slutshaming
And thus, the course ‘Sex in Perspective’ came to life: a Bachelor Honours Class where students and teachers are given the space to experiment. Half the time, students attended lessons from professionals, ranging from activistic artists to lawyers supporting victims of sexual offenses. The other half was spent working on projects for stakeholders, such as NGO's.
For instance, Florence and Ralph hope to start a societal debate with their opinion piece on the lack of research into endometriosis. ‘There’s still a gender data gap,’ the two explain. ‘We’ve seen how an opinion piece can lead to discussion and policy changes - as happened with, for instance, the debate about pain management during IUD insertion.’
Another group collaborated with the KiKiD foundation to create a comic to prevent slutshaming among 10 to 12-year-olds. ‘By teaching these lessons to kids before they begin high school, we hope to prevent slutshaming more often’, explains Isabelle, one of the students who worked on the comic.
Really make a difference
Sam, Lotte, and Djura tackled the topic of porn literacy among teenagers. ‘Teenagers encounter porn right in the middle of their sexual development’, they explain. ‘Even though they know porn doesn’t reflect realistic sex, it can still lead to the objectification of women and violence during sex.’
‘It was amazing to test something we worked hard on’
For their stakeholder, the WHIP-bus, they developed a card game to initiate conversations about porn. They were given the chance to test their product in the WHIP-bus, which was parked outside The Hague University of Applied Sciences. ‘It was amazing to test something we worked so hard on. It gives you the feeling that you can really make a difference’, says Sam.
Breaking down stigmas
The students bring their experiences with ‘Sex in Perspective’ to their own fields of study. For instance, medical student Kelt says: ‘As a future doctor, this course has taught me a lot about how to talk to someone about these topics and make them feel at ease.’
Another welcome advantage? The students now find it much easier to talk about sex. Isabelle: ‘In this course, we talk openly about sex, without any giggling in between.’
Djura has become much more open since taking the course: ‘My knowledge has expanded greatly on a scientific level. But more importantly, I’ve become much more open and comfortable talking about sex.’
Follow your curiosity, take an Honours Class!
Gain new skills and immerse yourself in a completely different field: that is the idea of the Bachelor Honours Classes. Twice a year, third-year bachelor's students can apply for one of the 30 classes offered by the Honours Academy. Participants learn to cooperate interdisicplinary with students from other programmes.
Honours Classes are also a testing ground for teachers to experiment on a small scale with new themes and teaching methods.