November 15, 2005
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The assignments do not include having sex, watching pornographic tapes, or even tying up a significant other. However, each semester, Psychology of Human Sexuality is a favorite amongst MCC students.
Courses of this nature began to appear in the American college curriculum in the ‘70s due to the sexual freedom movement and because kids wanted to be free of sexual restraints, according to Susie Orton, teacher of Psychology of Human Sexuality.
Colleges looked at this as an opportunity to teach their students about sex.
MCC has offered the course for more than 10 years and each semester there are three sections for students to choose from, two during the day and one at night, according to Orton.
“I wish this course was offered to me while I was attending college, then I would not have to have learned about sex on the street,” Orton said.
But despite its popularity, some of the class room topics are not for the close minded, according to Brooke Nelson, MCC student.
“The topics can get touchy at times when you are covering sexually oriented material and a lot of students have a set of personal beliefs that this class may offend. So I ask all of my students to be open minded and respectful during lectures,” Orton said.
Topics covered during the semester are the history of sexual repression, the development of sexual organs, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, pregnancy, relationships, love, disorders, sexual exploration, sexual identity and sex laws.
One of the more touchy areas is sexual identity which defines if a person is a man or a woman because of physical attributes or psychological attributes, according to Orton.
Besides these, there are also a few racy topics which are covered.
These topics include sexual positions, domination, sexual games and sexual toys.
The topics are covered in a variety of ways from demonstrational to educational video and lectures.
What most students get a kick out of are the sex charts which show a variety of different sexual positions, according to Orton.
“When talking about the different positions, I tell my students it’s like steak. If you ate it the same way every night, you would get tired of it so you have to spice it up and try it a different way every now and then to keep things interesting,” Orton said.
Besides sexual position charts, toys and birth control devices are brought in and proper procedures for using them are discussed.
Students are also encouraged to bring in their own sexual devices and toys in a form of sexual show and tell.
“A lot of students are disappointed in how learning oriented the class is. I think they expect it to be something they know everything about when signing up for the class but that isn’t the case,” Orton said.
Students interested in taking the class are required to first take psychology 101 and must be at least 18 years of age.
“The one thing I hope students take from the class is that we are sexual beings and have been our entire life. We need to respect that sexuality while enjoying it,” Orton said.