By Heather Allen
“Sex & Chocolate,” and annual sex talk held in Engstrom Hall provides answers to all those awkward questions that we don’t want to ask our parents or friends.
“It shouldn’t be weird to talk about sex or masturbation or the issues that our life patterns,” senior Biology major and panelist Caleb Van Essen said.
With a lobby full of both guys and girls, the event was just as successful as it has been in the past.
“I’ve been to Sex & Chocolate all four years now and it’s a really great thing to hear people talk about sex because it isn’t talked about much,” senior Psychology major and panelist Ellie Van Essen said. “Also as an RA is was very cool time for some of my residents to start talking about things like masturbation and sex before marriage, and their struggles and experiences with them.”
Most of the questions consisted of whether masturbation is acceptable or not or how often the married couples have sex, but there was one question in particular that generated some very interesting answers from the panel. “Why do you think God made sex for marriage?” Half of the panelists were quick to offer responses with references from the Bible and sharing their personal experiences of mistakes that were made before marriage. ‘How do you stop having sex after you’ve already started?’ was another question asked from the crowd.
“I don’t think the questions couldn’t have gotten any more blunt,” freshman International Business major Brenton Kelly said. “All the speakers were very straightforward and informative. I thought it was great for all the students of APU to hear what a Christian sexual relationship is supposed to look like.”
The panel consisted of four married couples ranging from eight months of marriage to 33 years of marriage, and two single individuals. Each couple shared their own relationships stories, both good and challenging. One couple was actually on the panel at the beginning of their marriage and came back this year to share their new experiences.
“When Jack and I were first on the panel, we would get questions and we would be like ‘we’ll let you know’ because we were still figuring out so much,” panelist Melissa Stava said. “Sex would still be awkward because of the fact that we were only three months in, but now since we’re three and a half years in, we’re getting the hang of things. Now, we’ve grown so much as a couple.
The night was filled with great tips of how to stay pure in this day in age, how to help others who may be going through issues concerning sex, and cute marriage stories that had the room swooning.
“The only bad thing about the night was that there wasn’t enough chocolate,” freshman Biology major Cameron Wielemga said.