Students giggled and at times squirmed inside a packed Sudler Lecture Hall Wednesday evening, as sex therapist Carol Queen provided a lesson on sex toys like bondage sex toys and human anatomy.

With a vast repertoire of sex paraphernalia at her disposal, Queen presented “Pleasure, Physiology, and Sex Toys,” a two-hour workshop that debunked some common myths about human sexuality. Queen provided visual aids including sex toys and stuffed models of body parts while she lectured on topics ranging from parallels between male and female sexual organs to the history of the vibrator.

“All through the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, women were assumed to experience extreme anxiety due to sexual frustration,” Queen said. “The woman needed to go to the doctor to be ‘worked on’ once a week by a doctor who had something between this [vibrator] and an antique jack-hammer.”

The talk was sponsored by Branford College, the McDougal Center and University Health Services’ student health education program. Queen spoke earlier in the day at a Branford Master’s Tea. The evening talk was originally scheduled to be held in a room in the Hall of Graduate Studies. But so many people attended that Queen and the audience moved to Sudler Hall — which the audience also filled.

Queen employed two over-sized stuffed models, her “Wondrous Vulva Puppet” and “Ratty-Ass Pink Plush Penis Puppet,” as visual aids. While reviewing the commonly recognized functions of both the male and female organs, Queen also introduced the audience to a number of little-known facts about sexual anatomy.

“You say that women don’t have a scrotum, but oh, we have a labia,” Queen remarked.

“You can change the size of your labia if you really want, but it takes a lot of work and I think you all are a little too busy with midterms,” she added.

While some of her talk was directed towards the women in the audience, Queen focused on men at times too. She pointed out that the average man’s rapid sexual response was not necessarily his own fault, since outside circumstances could lead to a sense of urgency in such situations. Exploring alternatives like communication and understanding, or even introducing innovative tools like cock cages, can add a new dimension to the shared experience.

“You have a set of physical potentials and skills,” Queen said, “but you need to practice a little bit.”

Queen said she first stumbled across the idea of becoming a sex therapist while in college, where she entertained and sometimes disgusted her friends with facts found in a book on human sexuality.

Queen said her interest in improving women’s sexual experiences led her to pursue a degree in Human Sexology at the Institute of Human Sexology in San Francisco, where she acquired a vast knowledge of the practical physiological side of sexuality.

Queen also showed some of the wares she sells at her San Francisco sex emporium, Good Vibrations, ranging from a butt-plug to the Hitachi magic wand, described by Queen as the “Cadillac of vibrators.”

“It [may seem] surprising that this is a small selection,” Queen said, “but at my store we’ve got many, many more.”

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