The organizers of last night’s “I Love Female Orgasm” lecture had a simple goal for their attendees.
“We hope that people go home to their partners and have more orgasms,” said junior American studies and women’s studies major Renee Davidson, co-president of Terps for Choice.
Last night’s speakers sought to shed light on a subject they say is too often overlooked in sex education: the female orgasm. It was presented in Tydings by Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot, professional sex educators who say they have been touring college campuses across the county since 1999.
If schools taught driver’s education like they teach sex education, they said, most people would be stuck taking the bus. That lesson would simply be: “driving is very dangerous, don’t do it until marriage,” Solot said. “But if you are going to drive, here’s how to fasten your seatbelt.”
The event was organized by Terps for Choice, a pro-choice organization at the university, and co-sponsored by the Pride Alliance and Student Entertainment Events.
The lecture hall where Solot and Miller spoke holds 502 people and was filled beyond capacity. Some students had to stand or even lean in through the windows. At a certain point, organizers had to turn students away due to fire-safety concerns.
Organizers said they hoped that the lecture would shine a more positive light on women’s sexuality in light of the recent high-profile sexual assaults in downtown College Park, as well as the controversy over the writing of names of alleged rapists on T-shirts during the Clothesline Project.
“There’s been so much negativity about sexuality lately,” said Erin Lester, co-president of Terps for Choice and a junior American studies major. “We hope this will remind women and men that sexuality can be a pleasurable thing and not something to fear.”
Women attendees were asked for the story of their first orgasm, and – after a brief dead silence – about half a dozen brave souls decided to share.
One woman said that she was so turned on by David Bowie in the 1986 movie Labyrinth that she began masturbating and had her first orgasm.
Miller and Solot offered hints for women trying to reach orgasm. They emphasized the importance of communication between a couple as key for reaching the peak. They also gave general information about the structure of the vagina, and went into detail about female ejaculation.
Solot explained how, as a college student who had never had an orgasm, she attended a university lecture on how to masturbate and met Miller. “Our relationship really improved in the years after that,” she said, laughing.
The couple, who attended Brown University together in the early 1990s and have been dating since 1993, published a book called I Love Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide in March.
One junior criminology major, who declined to give her name, said that her favorite part of the event was the introduction, when organizers played Meg Ryan’s famous fake orgasm demonstration from “When Harry Met Sally.”
The lecture was not all lighthearted, though. Solot explained how important comfort with one’s own body is. At the age of 26, she said she discovered a lump in her breast when she caressed it. When Solot later went to her doctor, she was tested and diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.
“The fact that I was comfortable with my own body may have saved my life,” she said.
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