On Monday, Feb. 17, students packed into 009 Student Success for Condom Bingo, an evening of games, snacks and candid conversations about sexual health. Organized by RCA in collaboration with the Women's Center, Counseling and Wellness, the LGBTQA Center, and Title IX, the event aimed to educate students on topics like consent, contraception and sexual violence—all through the fun and interactive format of bingo.
The event and motivations
The event began at 7 p.m. As Students arrived, they were given bingo boards, chips and soda, informational flyers with sexual health resources and a variety of condoms from the Residential Community Association (RCA) advisor's office.
Attendees played multiple rounds of bingo in which they learned about sexual health.
Among the noted goals of the event was to give away these items, while educating students about sex-related topics. President of RCA Varshitha Thanam discussed what these topics were.
"[The main goal was] to educate residents across the campus about important matters like consent and sex and remove any underlying myths that exist," Thanam said.
The hosts chose to use bingo as a fun, educational method that would attract students to the event and ensure they had fun, while still getting the necessary information across.
Brinlyn Tipton, Director of Residential Activities for RCA, added that they hoped to provide this comprehensive, inclusive sex education "in a way that is fun and engaging.”
The event definitely ended up being fun, with a few dozen attendees that were at attention for the entire event. They walked away with prizes, inclusive sex education and a fun experience under their belts.
Collaboration
Condom Bingo was initially conceived by RCA as a collaboration with the Women's Center. Assistant Director of the Women's Center, Bobbie Szabo, "loved the idea," according to Tipton ,and suggested bringing in other departments.
These ultimately included Counseling and Wellness, the LGBTQA Center and the Title IX department.
Kate Page from Title IX kicked off the night by giving a brief introduction to Title IX, its purpose and how Wright State University students can use it. Szabo then hosted the bingo game. The Women's and LGBTQA Centers had aided RCA in producing bingo questions that were not strictly heteronormative.
Tipton stated, "...it was great to collaborate with those other departments because they are the experts when it comes to inclusion and education."
Thanam described collaborating with these departments as "a wonderful experience."
Bingo
The bingo game covered a variety of sexual health topics. These included proper use and storage of contraceptives, anatomy, the FRIES acronym for consent and the names of on-campus resources.
The game also touched on more serious topics like STIs and sexual violence. There was a “3%” square on students’ bingo boards which referred to the percentage of American men who “have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime,” according to the RAINN website.
The success of the event was amplified by students' engagement. Many students arrived with their friends and then participated eagerly, shouting answers back to the stage, to win a gift basket or tote bag.
Tipton stated, "We think the event turned out great. We had a pretty good turnout and the attendees seemed to be loving the sex education round of Bingo.”
"The event turnout was amazing; we had about 100 students who attended, and all the snacks and condoms were out," Thanam agreed.
The success of the Condom Bingo event displays a commitment by WSU departments and students to promoting health, safety and consent.
