Meanwhile, It's Sex Week at the big school...

While Colonel conservatives ponder political speech restrictions, their more northern neighbors at UK are preparing for a different kind of public display. Sex toys, men in high heels and a "date night" mixer are added to the usual lectures, debates and health information exchange; all of which lead to an after party at a local GLBT bar.

This from Ryan Alessi at H-L:

Sex Week:

UK campus abuzz about birds and bees

Cryptic, neon green signs popped up around the University of Kentucky in recent weeks declaring: "Sex Week @ UK ... It's coming. R U?" — which has prompted both a buzz and some confusion around campus.

The inaugural Sex Week at UK kicks off Monday with a series of events, ranging from "Sex Toys 101" — a frank seminar about bedroom accessories — to lectures and panel discussions about religions' approaches to sex or ways to teach sex education.

All of the discussions and related activities, such as belly dancing classes and sensual poetry readings, are aimed at improving students' "sexual literacy," organizers say.

"Sexuality is something broader than just sex," said Jason Hans, UK assistant professor of Family Studies and faculty advisor of Sex Week. "We love the tease of talking about sex, but we don't like to talk about it openly and honestly and seriously."

The week long event will conclude Oct. 11, when men march a mile downtown in women's high heels to protest sexual violence.

Alessi needed to find someone who might oppose such a public display of pubic probity to give his story balance. He turned to the usual suspects at the Family Foundation of Kentucky and found Martin Cothran in. Cothran questioned whether a public university campus is the proper venue for any of the Sex Week events then complained that,

the seminars seemed to "trivialize" sex, particularly with a session devoted solely to sex toys."

Trivialize? I suppose that depends on the hardware. But Cothran says,

Maybe the organizers of Sex Week at UK ought to reconsider their slogan: Here's our suggestion: 'Silliness: the Ultimate Contraceptive,'" he said. "UK obviously has sex on the brain, which is a very uncomfortable place to have it."

I always thought sex was about 90% mental. But I wouldn't presume to cross swords with Cothran on the issue. He has been studying up on sex recently - even learning obscure words that only my dog knows - and Alessi surely must know something to have called Cothran for his expert opinion.

As for silliness, it seems to me that giggling during the act may presents it's challenges but I would be surprised to learn it presented an insoluble dilemma for any real family man. Apparently the Family Foundation is not interested in increasing potential membership for the group just now.

Sex-themed weeks have become a trend on college campuses since students at Yale University hosted a series of lectures, discussions and events dealing with sexuality in 2004. Later this month, Indiana University will hold its second Sex Week.

Hans said college students leave high school with many misconceptions about sex, citing his soon-to-be-published "survey of 500 young adults, of which only 20 percent considered oral sex to be sex even though sexually transmitted diseases can be spread during oral sex."

I gotta blame Bill Clinton for that bit of miseducation.