The Women’s Resource Center and Student Health and Counseling Services hosted SEX-ABLE: Queer Women’s Safer Sex Workshop on Thursday, which focused on queer women and safer sex practices.

The event started with questions or myths concerning queer safe sex.

“How many of you have heard that you can’t get pregnant if you have sex in a hot tub?” Indiana Womack, host of the event asked. “Or standing up?”

A slideshow at the event defines consent “important to having healthy sexual encounters, whether these encounters are with a new partner, or not.”

Womack talked about “safe words,” or a phrase that you tell your partner when to stop if they feel uncomfortable.

Current legal definitions of sexual assault, both state and federal, revolve around circumstance.

“Sobriety is an important factor,” Womack said. “If you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you can not legally give consent. Relationship is another important factor. If someone has power or authority over you, that complicates situations. For instance, for a law enforcement officer, or a relative, definition of consent is not clear.”

Patty Woodward, cohost of the event, gave an example of a husband who was arrested because his wife with Alzheimer’s disease was not able to give consent.

“Almost half of the STDs in the United States are in the 15 to 24-year-old age group.” Woodward said.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in 2013, everyone who is sexually active has had HPV at some point in their lives.

The CDC will revise the classification of HIV to rename HIV/AIDS to HIV 3, which is equivalent to AIDS, Woodward said.

“Saliva contains HIV, but it’s such a low amount of the virus that HIV can’t be transmitted,” Woodward said. “When you brush your teeth or you floss, you get a little bleeding, which creates an entry point.”

Woodward asked attendants at the event what was the highest concentration of HIV after explaining how the risk of contracting it depends on the source.

“Breast milk has the highest concentration [of HIV],” Woodward said. “Women in the developing world don’t know they have HIV and they breastfeed their child.”

Woodward recommended getting tested every six months, or whenever you get a new partner.

Sexual acts such as anal intercourse, penile-vaginal intercourse, deep kissing, rimming and oral sex all transmit diseases Woodward said while emphasizing the importance of communicating sexual orientation with your partner.

“Communication, communication, communication; talk, talk, talk,” Woodward said. “Be careful.”

Honesty while using “I” statements, or statements that explains a situation, was another topic of conversation at the safer sex workshop

“If you present something in a non-aggressive way, then your partner should not get defensive,” Woodward said. “If you use the proper “I” statement, then you give them an opportunity to save face. The “I” statement takes the blame off.”

The event included a video that showed participants how to use a female condom.

Woodward showed students the first female condom ever created, which users had to wear like underwear.

“There’s no way to make this sexy,” Woodward said.

Woodward said in 2014, the first international model, Adreja Pejic, an African-American, came out as transgender, which she said shocked the world.

“Transgenders are the highest risk group for HIV,” Woodward said. “Transgenders and African-American transgender women have the highest risk for the virus.”

They are a community group that does not want to talk about it, Woodward said, responding to a student who asked why African-Americans are at higher risks.

The event also included a segment on making sex accessible for people with disabilities.

“My girlfriend is a transgender person, and she is also autistic,” Womack said. “As I became more aware of disabled people, there are little services and educational material that caters to them.”

Lupus or chronic fatigue disorders, or other disabilities make it difficult for people to have sex, Womack said.

“There’s this stereotype that sex is not important to people with disabilities, which is not true,” Womack said. “Sex is extremely important. Being able to have sex with someone you care about is important to all people.”

Casey Sullivan, 19, who was intrigued about the subject, said she learned a lot about safer sex practices. The statistics regarding risk was a lot higher than she thought.

“I feel that I wasn’t that much of a high risk because I wasn’t out there,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of information that should be more widely advertised.