Northwestern University Live Sex Show

Northwestern's Human Sexuality course includes a naked woman being brought to orgasm with a dildo.

Let’s play a game called: Scenes From a Cheesy Porn Movie or Courses at Elite University.

Chicago Sun Times (“Northwestern University defends after-class live sex demonstration“):

More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.

The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”

And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.

“Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines,” said Alan K. Cubbage, vice president for University Relations. “The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge.”

The optional, non-credit demo followed psychology Prof. John Michael Bailey’s sexuality class. Nearly 600 students are in Bailey’s class this quarter, and most didn’t stick around for the after-class show, which featured four members of Chicago’s fetish community describing “BDSM,” or bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.

“I didn’t expect to see a live sex show,” said Justin Smith, 21, a senior economics and political science major who was in the after-class session. “We were told we were going to have some people talk to us about the fetish world and kink.”

Ah, the joys of higher education.

These students are adults and attendance at the “demonstration” were non-compulsory. But I can’t for the life of me figure out what the intellectual value of this exercise was supposed to be. I’m also afraid to ask what the homework assignments are like.

I shall also resist jokes based on the university motto, Quaecumque sunt vera.

UPDATE: The story gets more bizarre. Since this is a family- and work-friendly blog, let’s just say a reciprocating saw was involved in the demonstration and leave it at that. See HuffPo, The Daily Northwestern, and A.V. Club Chicago for further details if you must.

I hereby rescind any assessment that this wasn’t “educational.”

via Tom Bevan

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Dave Schuler says:

    When you’re paying the kinds of tuitions they are at NU these days you expect something for your money. I’m surprised the students aren’t carried around in sedan chairs.

  2. sam says:

    Hmmm. Good thing it wasn’t held at Brandeis — nobody could resist:

    Truth unto its innermost parts

  3. Franklin says:

    I have a close relative attending Northwestern … this should make for good dinner conversation next time she visits home!

  4. Dividist says:

    Should boost enrollment and recruitment.

  5. MichaelW says:

    “But I can’t for the life of me figure out what the intellectual value of this exercise was supposed to be.”

    That’s what Monty Python is for; imagining what we can’t:

    Humphrey: So, just listen. Now, did I or did I not… do… vaginal… juices?
    Pupils: Mmm. Mmm. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
    Humphrey: Name two ways of getting them flowing, Watson.
    Watson: R – rubbing the clitoris, sir?
    Humphrey: What’s wrong with a kiss, boy? Hmm? Why not start her off with a nice kiss? You don’t have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate. Give her a kiss, boy.
    Wymer: Suck the nipple, sir?
    Humphrey: Good. Good. Well done, Wymer.
    Pupil: Uh, stroking the thighs, sir.
    Humphrey: Yes. Yes, I suppose so. Hmm?
    Pupil: Oh, sir. Biting the neck.
    Humphrey: Yes. Good. Nibbling the earlobe, uhh, kneading the buttocks, and so on and so forth. So, we have all these possibilities before we stampede towards the clitoris, Watson.
    Watson: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

  6. michael reynolds says:

    Some day, perhaps far in the future, students will be able to go onto the internet and learn about dildos and penetration.

  7. Dave Schuler says:

    Some day, perhaps far in the future, students will be able to go onto the internet and learn about dildos and penetration.

    And, looking even farther down the road, perhaps they won’t be charged $50,000 a year ($100,000 including room and board).

  8. Dividist says:

    I mean – it’s not like they have a decent football or basketball team. They’ve got to do something.

  9. Dave Schuler says:

    BTW, when I was an undergrad at NU the cause celebre was whether a curfew of 10:00pm should be continued for co-eds. Times have changed.

  10. matt b says:

    BTW, when I was an undergrad at NU the cause celebre was whether a curfew of 10:00pm should be continued for co-eds. Times have changed.

    I just learned that Cornell’s undergrad population was radically separated well into the late 60’s. There was something like an uphill “ithaca mile” between the boys and girls sides. And ladies had a forced curfew of something like 10.00pm (I didn’t catch if this ran cross gender).