“Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it.” Lyrics to Rihanna’s song “S&M” played in the background of the Student Union 100 as people started to pile in for the Candy Shop program on Thursday, March 24.
The African Women’s Alliance (AWA) and the Men’s Basketball team cosponsored event. Danielle Ladson, president of AWA, created the program to increase awareness of safe sex in a fun way.
“AWA is doing this event because not many people know the significance of having safe and protected sex,” Ladson said. “We just want to extend that to the campus by handing out condoms and safety tips on preventing common [Sexually Transimitted Diseases](STDs).”
Ladson first got involved in AWA during her second-year in college, at which time she was the historian
“I got involved because I wanted to be more active on campus and I related to a lot of the programs that were being held,” Ladson said.
The program began at 8 p.m. Surrounding the rows of orange chairs were five carefully arranged stations. These different stations included sex jeopardy, a dessert table for sex sculpting, a snack table with different chips and sparkling cider, an overhead screen in the front and, finally, a back table covered with sex games and candy.
As people walked through the door, they were handed a heart covered goodie bag, containing treats such as an STD pamphlet, edible candies and flavored lube.
Raffle tickets were also given to each person, for a chance to win different prizes at the end of the program.
The festivities started off with sex jeopardy as the room split into two different groups. ‘Sex positions for 600,’ was the first category to be called out. Excited screams from each team passed back and forth throughout the round.
The other activities included sex charades and sex sculpting. Sex charades involved grouping students into teams and having them act out different sex positions that were read from a card. The team that came the closest won.
Sex sculpting was a little more difficult and students had to up their game. Individuals were blindfolded and placed in front of the dessert table. The goal was to sculpt different parts of a female or male body using bananas, whipped cream, chocolate fudge and ice cream.
Jermain Wallace, a third-year student on the New Paltz Basketball team, thought the event was an overall success. Wallace attended the event along with four other male basketball players. They were asked by the AWA to be a part of the candy shop program.
“We figured it was something positive that we could do on campus. It was a fun event for college students that would also teach about sex and education,” Wallace said.
The program concluded with different raffle prizes given out. The prizes included dildos, edible panties, body wash, edible lotion and a Kama Sutra book.
“It was fun and light, I was pleased with the program and how everyone interacted,” Ladson said.