Sex + Game Jam

For my senior project, I decided to host a 12-hour game jam around the theme of sex-positivity. The day started out with an hour round-table discussion answering questions that I had prepared beforehand. After the discussion, the attendees had the rest of the day to develop a small sex-positive game. In total, there were 12 attendees and 5 games that were made. My goal with this event was to create a safe environment that fosters discussion and creativity around sex-positivity. This participatory design project was my way of combining my passions for sex-positivity, education, creating safe spaces, and video games. Through this event, I wanted to explore the following questions: How can sex-positivity be represented in games? Why is creating safe spaces important? How can games and technology be used to educate on sexual health? My research consisted of playing games developed by Robert Yang, Naomi Clark, and Nina Freeman, game designers who unapologetically make games about sex and intimacy. Robert is known for his gay porn games such as Rinse and Repeat, The Tearoom, Hurt Me Plenty, and several others. Naomi Clark developed Constentacle, a cooperative card game about a human and alien trying to have a mutually satisfying romantic experience. Nina Freeman created how do you Do It!?, a game about being an 11-year-old girl who attempts to figure out how sex works using two plastic dolls. Another project that is similar to mine is Heartbeat, a three-day symposium and game jam about love, sex, and romance. This was an event that was held last year in Australia by Blush Box Collective, a group of game developers whose mission is to explore and promote love and sexuality in video games. These are the types of games and events I want to see more of and hopefully will be able to continue to develop in the future.