TIGER TV ONLINE REPORTER
Almost 200 students attended the first performance of Sex Signals, a two-person dialogue on rules and the ropes of dating, sex and consent.
The Student Activities Board chose the program because it gave students the tools and information they need to deal with sex in an engaging way.
“It’s a worldwide global issue going on,” Sheela Chockalingam, chair of ideas and issues for SAB, said. “ The program gives all the information in a without lecturing in a fresh, humorous way.”
The audience was mostly freshman, which was who SAB hoped to reach with the program most.
“Most rapes happen within a students first year,” chair of pop fusion for SAB Marlon Boutin said. “ We wanted to get them involved and teach them the rules of sex.”
The play used a combination of rehearsed dialogue, improvisation and audience participation to humorously explain themes in dating. Some of the themes were gender stereotypes and expectations, but the performance focused on the issue of consent.
During one scene the audience was instructed to remove red paper stop signs taped underneath their chairs and hold them up when the action in the scene was non-consensual. The activity demonstrated how many people can see when something is wrong but don’t stop to do anything about it.
Presenters of Sex Signals Kyle Terry and Kristen Pickering answered questions about consent for the last 30 minutes of the show to try to dispel the confusion people have about rape.
“It’s just getting students to have legit conversations about the confusion about rape,” Terry said. “ We’re telling them to be safe … It’s also to promote respect and that’s easier with clarification.”
Pickering and Terry tour colleges most of the year and also perform Sex Signals to all branches of the military.
Students attended for the entertainment value and curiosity but came away with new knowledge about the issue of consent.
“That information is useful,” freshman engineering major Olivia Wagner said. “I’ll definitely use it if I’m ever in that situation.”
“It was entertaining and educational,” Boutin said. “Many people are confused and it helps it open their eyes to the reality of sex.”
