From the pages of Off Center Magazine, May 2011 edition – CCSU
Sex Educator Megan Andelloux’s Classes Causes Stir In Connecticut
2011
It’s called “Oh, ohh, ohhh! Female Pleasure, Desire and Orgasms” and it’s just one of the workshops sex educator Megan Andelloux offers and now her sassy presentation are causing a stir in Connecticut.
Anthony Cannella, a Central Connecticut State University associate professor who criticized Megan’s presentation at the unversity said: “I think it’s a lot of pandering and unnecessary titillation. I don’t think kids need any more encouragement than they already have. It’s sort of irresponsible in my view. It’s really disingenuous to say that it’s mainly education.”
Megan Andelloux is a nationally Certified Sexuality Educator (CSE) through The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists, an HIV educator and a Board Certified Sexologist through The American College of Sexologists. For more on Megan, visit ohmegan.com.
READ MORE: College Talk ‘Fornication 101′ Provokes Criticism
PLEASE NOTE: I misspoke during this interview….if you watch pornography you CAN indeed have orgasms. You really can. My apologies. Pornography and orgasms can be lovely things.
Fornication 101 Lecture Sparks Debate at CCSU
2011
By JENNIFER SPOSATO
Updated 9:45 AM EST, Tue, Feb 8, 2011
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image
There’s little mystery behind a lecture called Fornication 101. But, there is plenty of debate about it at Central Connecticut State University.
A sex educator named Megan Andelloux is giving the lecture, which she tells The Hartford Courant is a “study of how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings with an emphasis on jollies, attitude awareness, sexual skill building and health.”
Andelloux has talked at dozens of schools, including Yale, Wesleyan and the Universities of Connecticut and said she’s never gotten negative comments about her work before, but she’s been receiving e-mails calling her “disgusting” and that she was contributing to immorality, the Courantreports.
Professors at CCSU are also putting their opinions on a university listerv.
Mark McLaughlin, a spokesman for the university, told the Courant he thinks the negative reaction is based on misconceptions that taxpayer money is being used to pay for the lecture. TheRuthe Boyea Women’s Center on campus and is sponsoring the event, which is paid for with private donations.
The spokesman also thinks people are confusing the lecture with an academic course and that it’s about sex rather than sexuality.
“We feel, despite the provocative title, her presentation really does focus on health, sexual consent, and providing a frank and open, factual presentation designed to appeal to college students,” McLaughlin told the Courant.
The event is scheduled for March 8.
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Fornication-101-Class-Sparks-Debate-at-CCSU-115554469.html
Sex Seminar Controversy Brews At CCSU
2011
POSTED: 5:04 pm EST February 7, 2011
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A new controversial sex seminar that could be coming to Central Connecticut State University in New Britain is raising eyebrows. It’s an explicit seminar that’s also offered at a number of other schools in the state.
This one-hour presentation put on by a Rhode Island based sexologist was initially slated to come to campus last week.
Fornication 101 is a seminar that promised to help participants “experience the erotic attitude awareness and sexual skill building.”
“It doesn’t seem to be a bad thing,” said student Ethan Pelletier. “We’re all adults here.”
Many different topics were to be discussed in a steamy sexology seminar slated to come to campus at CCSU before being canceled last week.
Certified sexologist Megan Andelloux, also known as Ms. Sexuality Speaker, tours universities talking about adult sex education.
One concerned woman in Meriden emailed Eyewitness News saying she was appalled her tax dollars would support such an offensive program, but school officials said the program was privately funded.
According to a university official, funds for the $600 presentation would come from private donations given to the Ruthe Boyea Women’s Center in support of its educational mission.
Taxpayer dollars are not used.
Despite the provocative title, the presentation clearly focuses on health, sexual consent and on providing a frank, open, positive and factual presentation designed to appeal to college-age students.
Officials said the seminar hasn’t been re-scheduled, but according to the sex educator‘s website, she’ll be on campus in March.
Source: http://www.wfsb.com/education/26780069/detail.html
Press Release: Sex Ed Does Not Increase STI Transmission
2011
For Immediate Release
02/07/2011
Sexuality educators set the record straight: “Talking about sexuality does not increase sexually transmitted infections” despite what non-experts report.
Contact: Megan Andelloux
401-345-8685
Contact: Aida Manduley
787-233-0025
In yet another attempt to shut down access to quality sex education, South-Eastern New England conservative advocates hit the sex panic button in a multi-state, email and phone campaign to colleges all over New England last week.
On February 3rd and 4th , certified sexuality educator and sexologist Megan Andelloux (AASECT, ACS) received word that numerous colleges and university faculty received a document stating that colleges who brought sex educators such as Ms. Andelloux onto their campuses were linked to the increasing rate of transmission of HIV in RI. Furthermore, among other misleading “facts” that were “cited,” the author of this bulletin claimed that Brown University was facing an HIV crisis, which is false.
Citizens Against Trafficking, the face behind the fear-mongering, spammed numerous local institutions from a University of Rhode Island account with its latest malicious missive that targeted specific individuals as well as Brown University. The author of the letter, Margaret Brooks, an Economics Professor at Bridgewater State, suggested that colleges and universities that host sexuality speakers, including those who are professionally accredited, are partly to blame for the four new cases of HIV which have been diagnosed amongst RI college students this year.
Ms. Andelloux states: “My heart goes out to those students who have recently tested positive for HIV. However, there is no evidence of any link between campus presentations on sexual issues and the spike in HIV cases. Rather, I would suggest that this demonstrates a need for more high-quality sex education to college students.“ It is unclear why people at URI or Citizens Against Trafficking, a coalition to combat all forms of human trafficking, is attempting to stop adults from accessing sexual information from qualified, trained educators. What is certain however, is that this Professor of Economics miscalculated her suggestion that a correlation exists between increased HIV rates in Rhode Island and the type of sex education these speakers provided at Brown University: one that emphasized accurate information, risk-reduction, pleasure, and health.
Barrier methods have been shown by the CDC to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Research has shown that when individuals have access to medically-accurate information, are aware of sexual risk reduction methods, and have access to learn about sexual health, the number of infections and transmission of STIs decreases, pain during sex decreases, and condom use increases. The CAT circulated bulletin is blatantly misleading about many issues, and often omits information that is crucial to understanding the full picture of sex education at Brown and in Rhode Island.
Shanna Katz M.Ed, one of the educators listed in the bulletin states, “In today’s world, many people are sexually active without having ever learned about sex itself. Educating adults about how to better communicate with their partner and how to protect themselves physically and emotionally is vital to the health and wellness of our culture. Without this information and skill sets, we are back in the 1950s, with people feeling guilt around sex, and feeling as though their desires are wrong.”
Reid Mihalko states, “In an age where the majority of college-age adults have only experienced federally funded abstinence-only sex education, continue to get their visual cues about sex from mainstream porn, and feel unsafe talking to their parents and school administrators about accurate sexual health information, I am committed to teaching men and women of all ages comprehensive, pragmatic safer sex practices and how to think for themselves when it comes to making the best sex and intimacy choices for them.”
When individuals who do not hold any background in sexuality education speak out in opposition because of their fear or prejudice, society becomes rooted in outdated beliefs and pseudo-science that do injustice to people everywhere. Furthermore, when those individuals personally and publicly attack those devoted to providing sex education with false and misinformed accusations, it not only hurts those who are defamed, but also the community at large.
We ask for an immediate retraction of the vilifying and inaccurate statements made by Ms. Margaret Brooks and Citizens Against Trafficking in their latest newsletter. We also ask that esteemed local universities such as URI and Bridgewater State continue to hold their employees to ethical standards of normal scientific inquiry and require that their faculty hold some modicum of expertise in a field of education before raising the public level of panic over it.
Megan Andelloux is available to answer any questions the press, Margaret Brooks, University of Rhode Island or Citizens Against Trafficking holds. Aida Manduley, the Chair of Brown University’s Sexual Health Education and Empowerment Council and Brown University’s is available to discuss the upcoming Sex Week and sexuality workshops held at Brown University.
Signed,
Megan Andelloux
Shanna Katz
Reid Mihalko
Aida Manduley
##########
CT College Review: Dildos and Dialogue
2010
Students Gather To Learn About Hot, Safer Sex
Published 13 December 2010
Last Friday, everyone in the Women’s Center clutched what looked like oversized plastic Easter eggs that were not filled with candy. Their workshop leader warned everyone not to open the packages prematurely; they were Tenga eggs, flexible and doughy masturbatory tools, part of a goodie assortment that also included various lubes.
“This isn’t really the appropriate time to break them out,” their workshop leader said. “Now, to get started, if you have a cell phone, please put it on vibrate and stick it between your legs.”
Last Friday, the Women’s Center was overflowing with people trying not to sit on each other, all of them facing a table crowded with brightly colored sex toys and lube. They squeezed into the Smith/Burdick basement for a workshop by Oh Megan!, or MeganAndelloux, a board certified sexologist and nationally certified sex educator who came wielding tools of the trade to educate on “Supersex”: safe sex that’s hot and fun.
Skyler Volpe ’13, a student coordinator of the Women’s Center, said that Andelloux used to come to Conn through the Feminist Majority group, which has since been absorbed by the Women’s Center. “Her presentations were always well attended and widely talked about, so we wanted to bring her back this year,” she said. “She was glad to come back to Conn!”
“She eliminated all potential awkwardness for the audience from the beginning,” said Rachel Saltzman ‘14. “By telling us about herself and her background from the start, we could think of her as a real person and not as this strange sex speaker.”
Andelloux loosened up the crowd by chatting amiably about what led her to our campus. She worked for Planned Parenthood for nine years, but was “burned out by the bad stuff,” like the onslaught of teen pregnancy and STDs. She now wants to teach young adults that there are ways to make safe sex exciting, no matter your gender or sexual orientation.
“I really enjoyed how diplomatic and sexually unbiased she was,” said Alia Roth ’14. Andelloux took the time to explain that she would differentiate between “penis-owners” and “vagina-owners,” but these terms did not imply gender identity or sexual preference.
Her presentation commenced with a plush vulva puppet she named Veronica, the exploration of which allowed the audience to view a cartoonishly large, fluffy replica of the clitoris, the labia and even the G-spot (Stickers exclaiming “The G-spot does exist!” were included in the goodie collections).
Andelloux bluntly explained that “while deep-dicking sounds lovely,” there are more nerve endings towards the front of the vagina, and fewer the deeper one ventures. Additionally, the clitoris is about six inches long, but can get up to eight when stimulated, and is most sensitive in its upper left quadrant.
Sequentially, Andelloux hefted out an alarmingly large and apparently rare uncircumcised dildo to educate about the penis. She explained that circumcision was not the only method originally employed to suppress children’s sexual desires: the blandness of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and graham crackers were also used. They, as she pointed out, did not work.
Andelloux shared other “fun facts” throughout the presentation, including a few on the penis: length is not as important to vaginal stimulation as girth, the average speed of ejaculation is thirty five miles per hour (though the shots can reach eighty), the scrotum is constantly moving, and (lightly!) pulling down on the sack during foreplay or intercourse, will delay orgasm.
This last one was particularly useful information, because Andelloux then indicated that the average national penis-owner “lasts” about two minutes.
To demonstrate, three volunteers were called to the front of the room and instructed to thrust with invisible partners, persistently.
“You’re doing it wrong!” Andelloux yelled at them as she stood aside, smirking. “You’re not going fast enough! Faster! Ow, you’re hurting me!”
The crowd was atwitter and the volunteers were panting and laughing when she called Time; they had cleared a mere 46 seconds.
Next on the agenda was a discussion of the orgasm, which Andelloux indicated to be very healthy for the body: it lowers stress, helps sleep, can alleviate mild depression, and even allows wounds to heal faster.
She then transitioned into a talk on vibrators, tools originally created as a treatment for hysteria.
“Some people don’t want to use them because they say they want to do it ‘the natural way,’” said Andelloux. “Well, toilets aren’t natural, but they make our lives better.”
Vagina-owners on average take ten to twenty minutes to get off, which means the best way they can achieve orgasm during intercourse is through practice with self-stimulation first. “The G-spot is not like the Staples ‘Easy’ button,” said Andelloux.
The workshop drew to a close after an extensive run-through of sex toys and supplements, from lubes (the water-based kind can increase STI transmission, she cautioned; go with silicon-based instead) to strap-ons (Volpe unabashedly volunteered to wear it as Andelloux demonstrated applying a condom with her mouth) to whips and funky vibrators. A crowd favorite was OhMiBod, a dildo that syncs up with your iPod and vibrates to the beat of the song of your choice.
Andelloux took some questions the audience had written anonymously on note cards. One asked for blowjob and handjob tips. She taught some moves – the ‘bottle-cap’ and the ‘octopus’ among them – but added, “Be confident, and be enthusiastic. You’d be amazed by how far that goes.”
“The center was packed, and people looked genuinely enthusiastic and interested in her presentation,” said Volpe. “It was also really cool to see so many people in the Center. It’s a beautiful space that doesn’t see nearly enough love from the campus community.”
Said Peter Herron ’14, “Andelloux knew exactly what she was doing. I would thoroughly recommend that girls learn from the vast wisdom this amazing woman has to offer. I definitely learned a thing or two myself.” •
Special Note: Water-Based Lubricant DOES NOT INCREASE STI TRANSMISSION. In controlled lab studies (not human based research), certain water-based lubricants damaged cell structures. This is preliminary research. For more information, please see http://www.microbicides2010.org/files/LubesDezzuttiAbstract.pdf
