Northwestern Univ. Sex Toy Demo: President requests investigation
(CBS/WBBM) EVANSTON, Ill. - The president of Northwestern University has issued a statement regarding a sex toy demonstration at a recent gathering of a human sexuality class.
More than 100 students at the suburban Chicago school watched as a naked woman was penetrated by a sex toy during an optional after-class session, according to CBS station WBBM.
In the statement, President Morton Schapiro said he was "troubled and disappointed" and said the teacher exercised "extremely poor judgment."
He has requested an investigation of the incident.
The Feb. 21 demo was part of the popular class taught by Prof. John Michael Bailey, the Sun-Times is reporting. More than 600 students take the class, which the course description says "will treat human sexuality as a subject for scientific inquiry," reports WBBM.
The woman involved in the demonstration was not a student, according to the Daily Northwestern, the school's student newspaper.
"Her boyfriend did the penetration on her," said Ken Melvoin-Berg, who narrated during the class. He operates the "Weird Chicago Red Light District Sex Tour," the station reported.
In an e-mail, Northwestern previously defended the class and its professor.
"Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines," said spokesman Alan Cubbage. "The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge."
Bill Yarber, a researcher at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute and author of the widely used textbook "Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America," said he's never heard of a naked woman being brought to orgasm in front of a class of students.
"There's certain boundaries of things, I think, that are acceptable and that would certainly be pushing that," he said, according to WBBM.
The Daily Northwestern quoted Prof. Bailey saying, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but watching naked people on stage doing pleasurable things will never hurt you."
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