USC ‘Consent Carnival’ Features Bouncy House of Sex

Student groups at the University of Southern California hosted a “consent carnival” last Thursday that included an obstacle course of sexual consent, which one student equated to “having sex with a bouncy house.”

According to Campus Reform, USC senior and soon-to-be law school student Jacob Abraham Ellenhorn attended and even filmed a portion of the event, which was reportedly hosted by USC Residential Education, USC Women’s Student Assembly, and Queer and Ally Student Assembly.

“They had a big obstacle course, and when you entered into it, two workers stood outside and would routinely tell you to stop, as in ‘I’m uncomfortable; stop’, and if you didn’t stop you didn’t get a ticket at the end,” Ellenhorn told Campus Reform. “It was like you were having sex with the bouncy house, and they would give you permission to go through each stage of it.”

Campus Reform notes that these groups had received approval and funding for the event from the student government just one week prior to hosting the festivities.

The group’s Facebook page indicates that they also had a kissing booth, mock Jeopardy!, and matching game where participants could test their knowledge about consent. The page’s RSVP indicates that 109 students attended.

The Matching Game was reportedly somewhat confusing, because it included terminology that did not have anything to do with sexual consent, such as “cisgender” and “transgender.” And despite its message, the “kissing booth” did not come with the traditional anatomical touch often associated with the act. Ellenhorn noted to Campus Reform that there was not “actual kissing” but that “they had little Hershey’s kisses with a piece of paper explaining what consent is.”

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.