Today's Hours
This semester’s eye-catching safe sex themed display in the Cohen Library atrium is a collaboration between two student clubs, the LGBTQ+ Open Alliance Student Club and the Knitting Club.
The display’s goal is to educate the CCNY community about safe sex practices and reproductive health, and it does so admirably with hand-made crochet and knit reproductive organs, informational signs, and many, many condoms!
Open Alliance members Tyler and Aniya told me that several factors came into play when the Open Alliance club was planning this display in December 2022 and January 2023. National Condom Day (February 14) was coming up, and the idea to make the display about safe sex and reproductive health was a clear choice.
The Open Alliance wanted to make the queer community present and visible in a space it might not otherwise be, specifically, as Tyler said “parts of the community that aren’t as widely talked about—people who identify as aromantic, asexual, poly, bi, or pan.”
Beyond just queer visibility, they wanted to explore the ideas of safe sex, STIs, periods, healthy relationships, pleasure, consent, female bodily autonomy, and to get the CCNY community engaged with these issues. Aniya and Tyler both mentioned that when they were putting the display up in January, people who were just walking by would stop to look, to ask questions, and to help with the display, even if they weren’t part of the clubs.
Knitting Club members Ade and Harry talked about their process of brainstorming what they were going to create for the display. Once they knew it would be about safe sex, the opportunity to create relevant objects proved exciting, and challenging at times. Existing patterns for the objects they wanted to create weren’t always available, so Harry created their own for the flag pattern, and followed a Spanish language YouTube tutorial for the uterus, while Ade modified a ‘close enough’ pattern to create the vagina.
Most of the objects in the display were made while sitting in the library, and people would stop by to chat, often expressing interest, and saying they didn’t know CCNY had a knitting club!
Ade talked about why they thought creating these objects for the display was important, noting that when you’re younger and learn about health and safe sex, it can be an uncomfortable or awkward subject, however safe sex is important! And, while it is something that should be taken seriously, one way to make it more approachable is by adding a sense of humor, which is what their objects do. The juxtaposition of the reproductive organs with the soft materials and the wild color choices are enticing to the viewer and show that this isn’t something to shy away from, but rather to embrace.
The display will be up through the end of the Spring 2023 semester, so if you haven’t stopped by the Cohen Library to see it, you definitely should!
If you’d like to get involved with either the Open Alliance or the Knitting Club (or both!), you can find their information below.
If you want to connect with the LGBTQ+ Open Alliance Student Club, you can find them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ccny_open_alliance_club/. They meet every other Thursday from 12:30-2:00 pm in NAC 1/101B.
If you want to join the Knitting Club to learn how to knit or crochet, or to build your skills and chat with yarn enthusiasts, find them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ccny_knittingclub/. They meet every Thursday from 12:45-2:00 pm in NAC 6/328.
Thank you to Open Alliance members Tyler and Aniya, and to Knitting Club members Harry and Ade for speaking with me about the project. Thanks to all of the OA and KC members who participated in creating the display: Lily, Diana, DeAsia, Mithila, Esther, and Quin. And finally, thanks also to club advisors Jake Nill and Rhea Faniel.
Funding for materials was made possible through Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights: John Lewis Young Leaders, to which DeAsia McCorvey is one of City College's campus ambassadors.
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