Sex, Religion Discussed

A Seneca-sponsored discussion on sexuality and religion brought together undergraduate women—and one man—of various faiths last night to discuss topics that ranged from premarital sex to masturbation to homosexuality.

The event, entitled “Faith and Foreplay: A Discussion on Women, Religion and Spirituality” was held at Hillel and was co-sponsored by Hillel and Christian Impact.

Nicole M. Laws ’06, the former president of the Association of Black Harvard Women, said, “I was excited that there were so many types of viewpoints. I appreciated having people who were conservative as well as those who weren’t.”

Katie E. Koopman ’08, chair of the Seneca’s Women’s Outreach Committee, said, “We wanted to provide an open forum on women and sexuality, and how faith works in that aspect of women’s lives.”

Women from a variety of backgrounds, including Hindu, Jewish, and Catholic, as well as the non-religious voiced their opinions.

The discussion opened with the question of how one’s faith informs a personal sexuality. Responses ranged from those who said their faith is entirely responsible for the decisions they make about sex to those who said that they have been able to reconcile their religion with their sex lives.

“I feel like the general feeling is that the conversation went from the very conservative to the very liberal,” Jennifer T. Morse ’07 said.

“The subject of premarital sex generated the most debate.”

“I thought it was a great discussion. It’s nice to see people at Harvard informed about this subject and talking about it in an open setting,” said Mandy L. Gable ’09.