Social sexuality educator and comic storyteller Cindy Pierce visited campus to speak to Uppers and Seniors about the importance of healthy sexual behavior this Wednesday during All-School Meeting (ASM).
By sharing her experiences and giving advice, Pierce mentors young people on how to navigate difficult social landscapes. During her 45-minute talk, Pierce charmed the crowd with her honest and humorous approach to sexual education.
“Social courage takes practice… Healthy sex is about communication and respect, and all of this is about social courage… If you can practice that now, calling people out on disrespectful language, and being a more inclusive community… It’s going to make your college experience so much easier because you’re gonna be more on your game and have more conviction,” said Pierce in an interview with The Phillipian.
In her presentation, Pierce discussed the positive and negative aspects of social media in relation to social behavior.
“There are so many positives. Social media brings us activism, it inspires activism. It informs us, it educates us, it connects us in so many ways. These are positive things. And it creates community… Social media has saved lives,” said Pierce during the presentation.
“When we’re behind social media, we are somewhat disconnected. We think we’re connected, but we’re actually disconnected… [Social media] creates envy. It adds to the stress in your life, even though you know in your head these people are cultivating their image,” she continued.
Pierce encouraged audience members to continue developing in-person interactive skills in place of social media.
“So many people are hooking up behind text. Everyone’s got a lot more swagger and courage behind text… but we need to be face-to-face where we can practice reading social cues, non-verbal cues, verbal language, what you’re saying with your eyes. But if we’re not getting practice with that, we’re not developing [those skills],” said Pierce.
Prior to starting work in motivational speaking, Pierce ran an inn with her husband, with whom she has three children. Her introduction to giving speeches was a complete accident.
Pierce said, “[After talking to me,] my friend’s boss said they were like ‘Woah, you make us feel so much better about being women, having vaginas, birthing, and relationships. You make it funny and we’re struggling with [these things], could you get on stage and do that?’ ”
In 2004, Pierce agreed to the suggestions from her peers and family. Originating from a small scale comedy show, she delighted crowds with a straightforward, blunt style of humor that simultaneously provided audience members with advice in social situations.
“I thought [the younger] generation with Internet didn’t really need any information on orgasms and all this, and I went to a sorority, and I kind of vaguely talked about [the first time I orgasmed,] and then one woman behind me said, ‘Excuse me, you talked about that but you didn’t actually tell us how you do that,’ ” said Pierce.
In her presentation, Pierce also touched upon the topic of affirmative consent.
“You are a group that talks about affirmative consent. I just want you to understand that this is a policy on campus. You are going to be better than your parents at this… because you have started younger. Affirmative consent is very basic,” said Pierce.
Pierce has been featured on the list of “14 Remarkable Women of the Arts” in “New Hampshire” magazine. She is also the author of “Sexploitation: Helping Kids Develop Healthy Sexuality in a Porn-Driven World.”
