Faithless
12-05-2006, 07:28 PM
Oh, what Veronica the vulva-shaped hand puppet can teach you!
"Sex toys are your friends," she (Megan Andelloux, the 30-year-old Planned Parenthood counselor ) told males. "They cut your work in half."
They certainly can make your wrist and index and middle finger less sore.
On-campus female orgasm workshop draws curious males (http://www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2006/11/29/Features/OnCampus.Female.Orgasm.Workshop.Draws.Curious.Male s-2511873.shtml?norewrite200612052121&sourcedomain=www.browndailyherald.com)
Abe Lubetkin | Issue date: 11/29/06 Section: Features
As Veronica spread her vaginal lips, Win Bennett '09 and his six male friends watched intently. When she climaxed, a few of them took notes.
Nevermind that Veronica was a vulva-shaped hand puppet; for the roughly 30 men participating in an on-campus "Female Orgasm Workshop" earlier this month, the chance to hear dos and don'ts of clitoral stimulation marked a rare opportunity to discuss what some men said they're expected to know.
More than one-third of the students who fondled sex toys and spread lubricants on their fingers at the Nov. 9 program in Petteruti Lounge, sponsored by the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, were male.
"Men are supposed to be really macho and just know these things," said Bennett, who, surrounded by his six male friends, admitted he wouldn't have come alone.
"It takes a real man to come out and say, 'No, I don't know everything about this,'" he added.
Julie Flynn '08, who works at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, organized the November workshop and two similar workshops last semester. Flynn said she tried to market the events to both males and females. She said males were consistently "a harder sell" and speculated that inaccurate gender stereotypes were to blame.
"There's this belief (for males) that if you don't know what to do as soon as you hit puberty, you're lame," she said.
Megan Andelloux, the 30-year-old Planned Parenthood counselor and sex educator at Miko Exoticwear who led the workshop, said societal attitudes about men's knowledge of sex are largely inaccurate.
"There's a belief that women have to learn how to be sexual, but men are just innately sexual creatures," she said. "It's very scary for men to approach sex education because society thinks of it as admitting defeat."
Many of the men at the most recent workshop acknowledged that their presence there might, in some contexts, subject them to mockery from other men. But as Andelloux demonstrated common oral sex faux pas, male participants believed they would get the last laugh.
"It'd be immature to not take advantage of the opportunity," said North Whipple '08 of the workshop. "Brown is one of the few universities where you could go to a sexuality workshop like this and not be judged."
The prevailing sentiment was: no guy knows it all.
"I guess there's this idea that if you're coming (to the workshop) you're admitting that you have a weakness in something," said Adam Siegel '09, who said he hadn't always been as confident as he'd wanted to be when performing oral sex.
"I think there's always room for improvement," he said.
Julian Cihi '09, one of Bennett's group of seven, said he understood why some curious men might stay home but added he had no qualms about being there.
"Maybe some guys aren't comfortable admitting that they may want to learn more about the female orgasm, but there's always more to learn," he said.
...
"Sex toys are your friends," she (Megan Andelloux, the 30-year-old Planned Parenthood counselor ) told males. "They cut your work in half."
They certainly can make your wrist and index and middle finger less sore.
On-campus female orgasm workshop draws curious males (http://www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2006/11/29/Features/OnCampus.Female.Orgasm.Workshop.Draws.Curious.Male s-2511873.shtml?norewrite200612052121&sourcedomain=www.browndailyherald.com)
Abe Lubetkin | Issue date: 11/29/06 Section: Features
As Veronica spread her vaginal lips, Win Bennett '09 and his six male friends watched intently. When she climaxed, a few of them took notes.
Nevermind that Veronica was a vulva-shaped hand puppet; for the roughly 30 men participating in an on-campus "Female Orgasm Workshop" earlier this month, the chance to hear dos and don'ts of clitoral stimulation marked a rare opportunity to discuss what some men said they're expected to know.
More than one-third of the students who fondled sex toys and spread lubricants on their fingers at the Nov. 9 program in Petteruti Lounge, sponsored by the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, were male.
"Men are supposed to be really macho and just know these things," said Bennett, who, surrounded by his six male friends, admitted he wouldn't have come alone.
"It takes a real man to come out and say, 'No, I don't know everything about this,'" he added.
Julie Flynn '08, who works at the Sarah Doyle Women's Center, organized the November workshop and two similar workshops last semester. Flynn said she tried to market the events to both males and females. She said males were consistently "a harder sell" and speculated that inaccurate gender stereotypes were to blame.
"There's this belief (for males) that if you don't know what to do as soon as you hit puberty, you're lame," she said.
Megan Andelloux, the 30-year-old Planned Parenthood counselor and sex educator at Miko Exoticwear who led the workshop, said societal attitudes about men's knowledge of sex are largely inaccurate.
"There's a belief that women have to learn how to be sexual, but men are just innately sexual creatures," she said. "It's very scary for men to approach sex education because society thinks of it as admitting defeat."
Many of the men at the most recent workshop acknowledged that their presence there might, in some contexts, subject them to mockery from other men. But as Andelloux demonstrated common oral sex faux pas, male participants believed they would get the last laugh.
"It'd be immature to not take advantage of the opportunity," said North Whipple '08 of the workshop. "Brown is one of the few universities where you could go to a sexuality workshop like this and not be judged."
The prevailing sentiment was: no guy knows it all.
"I guess there's this idea that if you're coming (to the workshop) you're admitting that you have a weakness in something," said Adam Siegel '09, who said he hadn't always been as confident as he'd wanted to be when performing oral sex.
"I think there's always room for improvement," he said.
Julian Cihi '09, one of Bennett's group of seven, said he understood why some curious men might stay home but added he had no qualms about being there.
"Maybe some guys aren't comfortable admitting that they may want to learn more about the female orgasm, but there's always more to learn," he said.
...