Warm. Fuzzy. Heated tension. Every nerve is going to explode in a second. A giant explosion that starts deep inside me, radiating from my belly button down through my clitoris. I can not focus on anything but my inner firework burning down in my vagina.
That is what an orgasm feels like to me. But how should I draw it?
A white paint canvas is in front of me, a bright color palette to the side and the brush in the palm of my hand. It is a weird feeling to try and imagine a visual representation of one of the most intimate feelings relating to your body. At the UVU Students United For Reproductive Freedom Club “Paint Your Orgasm” event on Oct. 24, attendees were encouraged to express their sexuality.
Students sat around me, they all concentrated and day-dreamed about their own sexual experience, but with one goal in mind: to show everyone there is no need to hide from one of their most natural feelings.
Jessica Mohammed, President of the Surf Club, guided us into the mood with some light music, and into how to find out what your orgasm can look like.
“What does it feel like? What comes to your mind when you experience it? Be as free and creative as you like. There is no need to be ashamed of anything related to your sexual behavior.”
Free is the key word here. The Surf Club intends to provide a safe space with its meetings to exchange ideas about sexual education, their personal sexual experience and sexual harassment or even abuse. Sponsored by Planned Parenthood, the club works to break through stigmas and fears that are associated with sex. To do this, they are promoting sex positivity, this time in the form of painting your orgasm.
“I mean, there are people out there who do not know what an orgasm is,” Mohammed said. “We need more events like this and more information about health and safe sex practices. It would be awesome if we could talk about human sexuality. People could be a bit more open.”
With a Planned Parenthood vibe in the form of buttons and posters, some students even painted on canvases with condoms on their fingers in order to create a unique drawing experience in the name of safe sex.
While I painted what I felt a climax looked like in bright yellow with white highlights, Marisa Inxaysy, a health administration major, was working on a more all-in-one composition. In her mind, an orgasm is more of a circle of exploding color bombs. She emphasized how important it is to spread body positivity and how natural an orgasm should be handled in society.
Another orgasm artist, Trevor Jensen a political science major, had stars crashing into each other in all kinds of warm yellow and red colors on his canvas. He also attended the drawing event to show how we can talk openly about the consent of sex.
“The biggest thing from the Surf Club, just from this meeting they have been talking about pushing for normalizing consent and getting that into conversations throughout campus,” Jensen said. “Consent can be expressed and evoked in so many different ways and it is not talked about enough to be able to address it and recognize it in every way.”
After finalizing his piece of art, he had a satisfied smile on his face. He said that what sounds strange and uncomfortable in the beginning many people, is actually an effective method to not feel ashamed for what should be normal.
I am leaving with an imagination. I had a really enlightened conversation with my vagina. My orgasm turned out pink with a swirl of rose and white in the middle. While I took my orgasm home on the bus, it was still wet but now has dried. I am proud.
