Hundreds of students camped outside of Kasper Multipurpose Room Sunday night to secure tickets to one of Brown’s most renowned events of the year: Sex Power God. The Queer Alliance will host the annual party — a venue where attendees are free to explore their sexuality in a safe space — on Nov. 2. Like in years past, the event has garnered its share of negative attention, a response we view as uninformed and unfair.
The party and other “naked” events on campus are confined to singular spaces, affecting only students who willfully attend. While some might be uncomfortable with such a display of public sexuality and nudity, the point of the event is an important one: to make students of all sexual orientations feel comfortable and able to act on their sexuality. SPG stands as a tradition that represents Brown’s commitment to tolerance, open-mindedness and curiosity.
SPG has captured the media’s attention ever since Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly released footage of the event back in 2005, calling the event University-sponsored “debauchery.”
Earlier this year, Jesse Watters, a producer for “The O’Reilly Factor,” returned to campus to stir up criticism of Nudity in the Upspace. Watters claimed the event “discusses and explores nudity in all forms by way of nude body painting, nude yoga and nude performance.”
But rather than refer to the event’s proper name, Watters continued to call it “naked week,” hardly concealing his perspective that Brown students are, as a Herald opinions column reported, “over-privileged and hyper-sexualized liberal idiots” (“Newlon ’14: To Mr. Watters and the media...” Oct. 7). Many other outlets followed suit, with the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast and CBS News publishing segments on “Nudity Week.”
Contrary to these depictions, SPG and the events of Nudity in the Upspace are nonintrusive, relevant only to those students who chose to participate. In reality, a minority of students attend the events: Though the student body includes 6,435 undergraduates, only 400 tickets to SPG were sold. In addition, given that the event is tightly controlled and no photography is allowed inside, students who do not actively seek to participate in SPG remain entirely untouched by the party. This was also true of Nudity in the Upspace, the activities of which were contained in an established safe space. Only those who agree with these events’ missions and wish to take advantage of them are affected.
Furthermore, that an annual event like SPG may exist on campus reflects an attitude of tolerance and safety that permeates Brown. The party would not be possible without the open-minded mentality of students and administrators on campus, which we should commend. College is about experimentation and personal growth, and SPG provides an outlet for students to explore. As society continues to expand norms of sexuality and its means of expression, we find SPG to be an event that affirms Brown’s proud tradition of pioneering social liberation.
Finally, Brown is hardly the only university where nude events serve as important school traditions. For example, consider Yale, where social traditions have included optional naked events for decades. These events are similar to SPG at Brown — they too emphasize creating safe environments. Those who choose to participate in Brown’s SPG and other events are free to do so comfortably. Those who choose to opt out remain completely unaffected.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editor, Rachel Occhiogrosso, and its members, Daniel Jeon, Hannah Loewentheil and Thomas Nath. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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