In order to raise awareness about sexual health, the Sexual Health Awareness Peer Education organization hosted the Battle of the Sexperts last night in the K-State Student Union Courtyard. S.H.A.P.E. hosts the Battle of the Sexperts event every year in order to provide a fun atmosphere where students can learn about safe sex practices and issues like STDs.
The battle included three stages: a condom relay, a jeopardy game and condom comebacks. Rhett Jones, senior in hospitality and president of S.H.A.P.E., said the relay was his favorite event. In the relay, teams had to put a condom correctly on a banana, correctly make a dental dam and then put a condom on several odd shapes, like a rubber duck, a plastic toy, a Nerf football and a water bottle.
“I think it’s a fun way to show how condoms work,” Jones said.
The jeopardy game included answering questions about sex, sexual health, relationships and STDs. For some, this was the favorite part of the evening, especially as new information was learned.
“I was really surprised by how long HIV can stay dormant before it become AIDS,” Abdulrasheed Yahaya, senior in computer science, said. “I think it’s always important to stay updated on sexual health and habits.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, HIV can stay dormant for 10 years before becoming AIDS.
For others, the best part was the condom comeback, in which teams were given situations where their partners did not want to put on a condom. The teams had to come up with clever or effective comebacks to convince their partners to wear a condom.
“I really liked the comebacks, even though I’m not that creative,” Savannah Hlavacek, freshman in pre-psychology, said. “We mostly came for my friend who didn’t know much about sex.”
Her friend was Whitney Horn, freshman in English. Horn said they found advertisements through an email and around campus and thought it looked fun.
“We learned pretty much everything about STDs,” she said. “Jeopardy was really fun because it had a lot of different information.”
Lastly, in order to demonstrate how flexible a condom is, Jones pulled one over his head and blew into it, encircling his head in a bubble. According to Jones, the secret to this act was passed down from their previous president.
“It takes some practice,” Jones said. “It takes knowing the secret too. And you just have to do it.”
Emily Bond, junior in advertising and peer educator for S.H.A.P.E, became a involved last spring after seeing Jones give a presentation for her class. While Bond had to take a class in order to join, students looking to volunteer are not required to.
“I think sexual education is very important because the more education you have, the better you can equip yourself,” Bond said. “It’s something you can do to better protect yourself.”
