Two Marshall students were named Sexperts at a Students for Reproductive Justice Sex Week event.

First year English graduate assistant Nathan Full and student body president elect Matt Jarvis served on a panel with LPN Jenn Greer and biology pre-med graduate student Shellie Coleman to discuss different issues regarding sex.

Full said he served on the panel because it was similar to “Wizards of Sexuality” and he enjoyed the experiences because the questions were addressed in the best way.

“I think it was positive and effective,” Full said, “I mean humor is the way to get things like this across. I think that because we were so vocal and honest about it, it definitely helped.”

Jarvis said he decided to get involved because he wants to get to know and help more organizations on campus. Jarvis said Sexperts was a little out of his comfort zone, but it was definitely worth it.

“I mean I think we covered a pretty good range of topics,” Jarvis said. “I think we answered everything honestly and truthfully, which was the purpose of the program. The purpose of this entire week is to make sexual health part of a normal mature conversation, which was accomplished tonight.”

Jarvis said he was happy to see SRJ growing and gaining support.

One issue all panel members had was the lack of sex education in the West Virginia school system. Most members stated how they were taught to remain abstinent until marriage and weren’t really taught about their options in protection. Another issue the panel brought up in regards to West Virginia sex education is it only teaches heteronormative sex education.

Jarvis said he was lucky to have a sex education teacher who was very forward and explained everything and prepared students for safety.

Coleman said measures need to be taken to curb the abstinence mentality. Coleman also said she liked the idea of teaching of sex education at a younger age so students know what their body is experiencing by the time they come into puberty.

Greer said the classes need to be taught by a licensed medical professional.

Other issues included the difference between sex, sexuality and gender, opinion of Right to Discriminate, definition of consent, sexting, “hookup” apps, dental dams, coming out, sex and contraceptive misconceptions and safe spaces.

After the discussions were over, the students in attendance voted on who they thought was the “sexpert;” Jarvis and Full tied.

Sophomore economics major Alex O’Donnell attended the event and said he was very pleased with the event because it was a way to talk about sex in a comfortable environment.

“I think the biggest take away from the event is that students need to keep talking about sexual issues, sexual positivity, all things related to sex so we can improve sex health,” O’Donnell said. “If not, it will still be a taboo issue and the sexual health among people on campus will remain low, it’ll remain bad. We don’t want that; we want healthy, happy, sexy students.”

Vice president of SRJ AJ Murphy said the event exceeded her expectations and she was happy with the open dialogue. Sex week will continue until Thursday.

Cheyenne DeBolt can be contacted at [email protected].