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On Tuesday Nov. 18, several hundred students crowded into Golding 101 to see Megan Andelloux—also known as Oh Megan—present what the event’s Facebook page advertised as “a study of how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings with an emphasis on jollies, attitude awareness, and sexual skill building.” They stressed that the course was “designed to introduce students to carnal knowledge, comfort in awkward situations and hot safer sex behaviors.”

Megan—who has been visiting Brandeis annually for the past seven years—is a Board Certified Sexologist through the American College of Sexologists and a Nationally Certified Sexuality Educator (CSE) through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists.

She has worked full-time in the sexual education field for the past 12 years—including nine years as a youth-focused sexuality educator.

In 2010, Andelloux created the Study Sex College Tour—through which she visited Brandeis’ campus this semester.

Megan explained in the workshop that she decided to start the tour in reaction to claims among experts in the field that it is impossible to create respectful and educational sex education on a college campus.

Megan took these criticisms as a challenge, and set out to create a curriculum focused on cultivating future sexuality educators, creating a safe environment for students to learn more about safer sex practices, consent, sexual pleasure and sexual politics.

As a part of the Study Sex College Tour, Megan travels to universities around the world, giving lectures with titles including “Fantasy Island” and “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!” All lectures are based around the goal of allowing college students to feel that they can explore sex and sexual issues in a fun, educational and respectful way.

Tuesday’s topic was “Fornication 101.” With the help of a variety of media and visual aids, Megan’s covered topics including “ejaculation, petting kitties, putting condoms on with your mouth, anal adventures, g-spot stimulation and sexual positions.”

The event was brought to campus by Student Sexuality Information Service (SSIS), a campus organization dedicated to cultivating a safe, sex-positive community while satisfying every Brandeisian’s sexual health needs, as an addendum to their typical orientation and dorm rap education programs.

Emily Zoller ’14, an SSIS counsellor, explained that sex education on the college campus is important because “sex education tends to end for most people in high school although, as people get older, they continue to have questions, maybe even more than before. Megan promotes a sex positive environment that lets people ask anything and have a conversation about uncomfortable topics. We need this at Brandeis.”

SSIS is a completely student-run organization that focuses on making sure that these important conversations are had in a comfortable and constructive way. Megan’s work as a sexual educator is conducive to this goal.

Nicole Nightingale ’13, another SSIS counselor, explained that Megan is “a great asset to help further educate anyone on sexual health. She’s very open and knowledgeable, and has a talent of making individuals feel comfortable when discussing sexual health and behaviors. She is also very respectful of people’s different comfort levels and opinions. I was thrilled to have her come to Brandeis. I was happy to be able to have her share her knowledge with our university.”

This type of informal sex education was well-received by students, as demonstrated by the event’s overflowing attendance. Lilli Meier ’14, who attended the lecture, stated that Andelloux “was really approachable and her presentation was interactive; it helped people open up and have fun with the material rather than get embarrassed.”

While parts of the lecture were graphic and potentially uncomfortable, Meier “was happily surprised by how open the audience was, people asked deeply personal questions without hesitation or fear of being judged.”

Mark Hajjar ’13, one of SSIS’s coordinators, explained that the event “was excellent. Brandeis students had a great turnout and were able to handle all of the material in an appropriate and mature manner, and Megan presented everything in a way that encouraged participation and a relaxed environment. It was a blast!”