Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has canceled a class teaching bondage techniques, such as “safe rope tying” and “handcuff skills,” after facing a slew of backlash from concerned parents.
IUPUI canceled its upcoming “Introduction to Bondage” workshop that was set to begin on Tuesday and led by an alleged bondage expert named Fynch, according to a report by Campus Reform.
Instructor Fynch, a “renowned local expert” and author of “rape erotica,” was set to provide students with a “hands-on experience with safe rope tying techniques” in a BDSM-themed workshop that was listed as “free and open to all IUPUI students.”
A description for the event reportedly described bondage as “a form of consensual and recreational sex play that involves tying, restraining, or binding a person with rope, handcuffs, or other items that can restrict movement.”
But now, the event page on IUPUI’s website is no longer accessible.
The university’s Office of Health and Wellness had reportedly sponsored and invited Fynch to teach the class as a part of IUPUI’s “Healthy Relationships Week.”
Ryan Anderson, assistant director of IUPUI’s Office of Health and Wellness Promotion, told the Collegiate Commons that the workshop was going to be an hour long, “with the first portion being our instructor Fynch talking about basic bondage techniques, skills, and safety, consent and communication with bondage, and in general, and demonstrating a few ties on her partner.”
Anderson said the second part was going to involve “an opportunity for participants, based on comfortability, to practice basic ties demonstrated first by our instructor,” adding that “nylon rope” would be provided, and that he and others would be “walking around to assist.”
One IUPUI student reacted to the since canceled BDSM-theme course, telling Campus Reform, “My university has faced controversy during my time here for not doing enough to protect students from sexual assault.”
“This [event] is not making campus safer, nor is it making the sex lives of students any safer,” the student added. “All it’s doing is showing how far IUPUI has gotten from its actual educational mission.”
Healthy Relationships Week is still scheduled to take place. It will include free STD testing, as well as what it referred to as a “Safer Sex Fest,” and a “Condom Club training.”
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