Filled to the brim with unicorn vibrators and strawberry-flavored lube, the Sexploration Tent returned to McCarthy Quad Wednesday afternoon in honor of USC’s annual Sex Week, taking place from Oct. 13-17. The tent was active from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and consisted of interactive activities, Q&As, free items and a panel led by Erin Tillman, an intimacy coordinator and empowerment coach, and Helen Hong, a comedian.

The tent has been a centerpiece of Sex Week for the past few years, with sponsorship from the Graduate Student Government, the Undergraduate Student Government, Women & Youth Supporting Each Other and the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment. Students were able to ask the panelists questions about sex, enter raffles, get free contraception and write on Post-it notes about sex “sticky truths.”

Sex Week aims to destigmatize conversations surrounding sex and foster a more open dialogue around topics that are considered taboo.

Andrew Cardenas, a USG senator and junior majoring in neuroscience, said the Sexploration Tent provides a space for marginalized communities to be seen and acknowledged in sexual contexts. He mentioned that deaf or hard-of-hearing people may require more visual cues when giving or receiving consent and that this should not be overlooked, which is why the sex tent had books for students to read, such as “The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability.”

“I think sex week’s such an amazing thing because it provides a safe space to have open dialogue about sex and everything related to sex,” Cardenas said. “We talk about how consent looks differently across the diverse disabled community … [to] break down the stigma against how members of the diverse disabled community are seen as unable to have sex.”

The involvement of various clubs and recognized student organizations has expanded the Sexploration Tent over the years to be more accessible to diverse groups that can be underrepresented in sexual spaces, said Cardenas. 

Tables were set up with resources such as condoms and lube, while others had diagrams of effective forms of birth control. A table led by the Confidential Advocacy, Resources, and Education Support Center provided personalized journals called “My Consent Journal”  for students to fill out with topics regarding consent and what types of intimacy they are comfortable with.

Participants explored various collaborative and interactive activities to encourage the idea of not feeling isolated for having questions regarding sex, including the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment’s “‘Sticky Truths” board, which invited participants to write a positive affirmation about sex.

Havanna Flores, the director of community outreach at SAGE and a senior majoring in health and the human sciences, said the sense of open dialogue at the tent is helpful in challenging stereotypes surrounding sex.

“People maybe won’t feel comfortable talking about [sex], but something like this out in the open during a farmers market shows it’s normal. If we talk about it, we can be safer about it,” Flores said. “If someone else sees [the Sticky Truths] like, ‘Oh, hey, I think the same thing,’ or ‘That makes me feel empowered, too,’ then they don’t feel so alone and feel like they can talk about it.”

Welela Solomon, a student leader for the Sexploration Tent and a senior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention studies, said the hands-on aspects of the tent were particularly important. Soloman said the various activities gave participants a chance to explore sexual topics in a way that felt comfortable in their own lifestyle without having others tell them to feel or act a certain way.

“Student leaders that I’ve worked with in the past couple of years have really promoted and expanded it to reach other communities and populations on campus, ensuring that sexual health and pleasure education is reaching the people that may need it most or may not have historically accessed it in the past,” Solomon said.

Disclaimer: Andrew Cardenas formerly served as sports assistant editor at the Daily Trojan in spring 2025. Cardenas is no longer affiliated with this paper.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Andrew Cardenas said deaf or hard-of-hearing people may require more visual cues during sex. The article was updated Oct. 19 at 3:08 p.m. to reflect that Cardenas said deaf or hard-of-hearing people may need more visual cues while giving or receiving consent. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.