Pleasure, anatomy, condoms and consent. These were just a few of the topics covered during last month’s SexUality Week and Real Sex Week events.
Too bad none of them told you what happens when your vulva goes missing.
Ok, so it’s physically impossible for someone to misplace an actual vulva, but Self Serve Sexuality Resource Center is on the lookout for its missing vulva costume, a search Facebook fans of the costume are calling #CuntHunt2016.
The costume was last used on campus for the Pop Up Sex Ed table, put up by the Student Alliance For Reproductive Justice with Self Serve, on March 7. It was last seen in the wearer’s car, and Self Serve’s security tapes have confirmed it went missing from the vehicle before it arrived back at the store.
Matie Fricker, the owner of Self Serve, said staff have already posted missing posters on Facebook and will probably be putting up fliers around campus in the near future.
“In case (people) see it anywhere, they can let other people know that nobody has consent to get into that vulva,” Fricker said.
While it hasn’t been confirmed that the vulva was stolen, Fricker said it is unlikely the costume was accidentally dropped or lost because of its heavy weight and hard-to-miss design. Whether it was stolen or merely found, she said, someone’s got it and Self Serve would just like it back.
She said the vulva is typically used for street outreach and what she calls “full frontal anatomy lessons,” which educate people about genitalia in an interactive way.
Shaya Rogers, a UNM alum and Planned Parenthood field organizer who has worn the vulva, said students loved seeing the vulvas out and about on campus.
“We often wore the costumes while holding a sign that read, ‘Practice consent - ask to take a picture with me,’” Rogers said. “We used the costumes as a learning opportunity, often challenging students to name the different parts of the vulva, and introducing them to conversations around safer sex, consent and pleasure.”
Fricker said it would cost hundreds of dollars to have the vulva’s makers, The Octopus and the Fox, replace this educational tool.
To prevent having to buy a new costume, Self Serve is offering a $100 Self Serve gift card as a reward to whomever returns the vulva safely to its owners, no questions asked.
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Fricker said that, while the people at Self Serve are very sad that their “much loved vulva” is still missing, they’re doing their best to turn it into a positive.
One of the ways they’re doing so is to use the situation to talk about consent by tying it into Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
“You can’t just touch a vulva without the owner of the vulva saying it’s OK, and we never said it was okay,” Fricker said.
They’ve also created a promo code for Self Serve’s online store; customers can enter the code missingvulva for 15 percent off their order.
Though Self Serve has made it a point to frame the situation in a positive light, fans of the costume are still sad to hear of its loss.
“I was really disappointed to hear that the vulva costume is missing,” Rogers said. “Self Serve and Planned Parenthood work hard together to make sure that we have multiple ways to engage with students and with the community in regards to comprehensive sex education, and the vulva costumes are a perfect example of that.”
Skylar Griego is a culture reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TDLBooks.
