Sex is naturally a huge part of college life, and yet so many people feel uncomfortable talking about it. O Spot is a new app being designed by the University of Oregon Health Center that provides sex-positive information and advice to students.
Keith Van Norman, the center’s health promotion marketing manager, is one of the app’s designers and says the team is hoping to break down the cultural barriers associated with sex advice and encourage discussion, considering it is such an integral part of life as a college student. “Typically, advice comes from really bad sources like magazines, or friends who might be ill-informed or bad websites trying to sell you something,” he said. “A lot of times it’s unhealthy and at worst it can be dangerous. That’s something we’re combating.”
Considering many students pay fees for the health center and never actually walk through the doors, O Spot provides a service for everybody, whether you’re a frequent visitor or not.
One of O Spot’s distinguishing features is its sex-positive standpoint and language. “We’re saying sex is good and it’s better if you’re safe and communicate, but we’re not coming at it from a judgmental place,” Van Norman said. “We’re trying to model how we expect students to talk about it.”
Here’s how it works: The main interface consists of two spinning wheels with one wheel composed of body parts and the other representing various body parts and objects that the user may come in contact with. The wheels can either be spun and will land on a random combination, or the user can manually align the wheels. For every combination, there are three types of information provided: STI risks, safer sex practices and advice for beginners.
“All of this content is available in different spots on campus, we’re just putting it all together,” Van Norman said. The information will provide a baseline of knowledge for students with a variety of sexual experience and knowledge.
Sarah Sprague, a UO junior and supervisor for the Peer Health Education group specializing in sexual health, helped develop descriptions of different STIs and barrier methods for the app. “I think many students have a lot of questions about sexual health and their sexual relationships that they are uncomfortable talking about (understandably so) and this app gives them the opportunity to explore answers to their questions,” she said.
“It removes the stigma and barrier around talking about sex and makes it easy and even fun,” Sprague said.
O Spot will be integrated into the existing UO app and will be available to anybody with a smart phone. The feature is scheduled to launch on October 15, and there will be an event the night of the launch featuring sex advice columnist Dan Savage.