From January 28 to February 1, the Health Communication Campaigns class (COMM 405) organized the sexual wellness campaign SEXpectations. Over the course of this week, multiple events were held on campus, all aiming to create more awareness amongst students about consent and sexual communication.

The idea for the SEXpectations campaign began by professor Nodulman, who gave her students the topics of consent and sexual communication. The campaign was built from the ground up, full responsibility resting with the students.
Instead of holding one single SEXpectations event, multiple events were spread over a week to reach a larger part of Augustana’s student body. The events included the campaign’s kick-off in the Brew, the Wallenberg Crawl on Thursday, “Share Yours” in the Brew on Friday, and poster reveals held every day.
“There is usually just not opportunities around campus to start to have these kind of conversations. The students wanted this to be something everyone on campus can take a bit out of,’’ Nodulman said.
The campaigns tagline is “Know yours, respect theirs.” Professor Nodulman commented further on the meaning behind this line: “They want students to start thinking about when you are in a relationship, what is important to you in that relationship? What do you wanna get out of that relationship? So, thinking about what is important to you, what is important to your partner, and then talking about it. To be able to feel empowered and have those sorts of conversations.’’
According to Emily Lucnik, head designer of Sexpectations, an important part of the campaign is for students to realize that they have the right to have their own expectations when it comes to their sexual relationships and to break the stigma of talking about your sexual relationships.

“Research shows that when people feel uncomfortable in a sexual encounter, miscommunication can go on and then sexual assault can occur. Or just you can have, like, bad sexual relationships with people because you didn’t feel comfortable enough to communicate what you wanted. The first person you need to know how to talk about sex with is yourself, so we’re are also trying to make people feel more comfortable,’’ Lucnik said.
President Bahls was also present at one of the SEXpectations events, joining the students in Friday’s poster reveal. “I am pleased with this campaign because while its messages are consistent with the recognized legal concepts, the messages provide needed practical guidance to students about consent,” Bahls said.
He urges all Augustana students to read the messages behind these posters and to realize and appreciate what constitutes healthy relationships. “Campaigns like this are an important part a bigger effort to help educate students about what is acceptable and what is not. Students speaking to students about sexual assault prevention is one of the best ways to provide that education,’’ Bahls said.
SEXpectations’ last event Westie Talk was postponed to Thursday Feb. 7 due to bad weather conditions. The aim of Westie Talk was to encourage students to participate in casual conversation about consent and sexual communication, specifically targeting freshman by holding the event close to their dorms.
Junior Amanda Lindau, who helped in the organization of Westie Talk said,“What the Westie Talk is, is just a way to break the stigma about SEXpectations and consent, and it’s a way for students, along with people who are kind of outside of Greek-groups to all get together and talk, get snacks and have a fun time.’’
Groups of students sat down in the Westerlin Lounge and discussed questions concerning what they expect from sexual experiences and general sex-related expectations on campus. Past this term, SEXpectations plans to continue updates on its social media pages (@sexpectationsac) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Featured Image:
First-year student Ryley Knar, from left, writes a relationship expectation on a sharing post-it as Sexpectations coordinators, seniors Maddie Witt and Kelcie Fredrickson discuss sexual communication on Friday, Feb. 1. Photo by Ian Murrin/Observer Staff.