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Bernie Liang pulled a purple card from the basket onthe table in front of him, bringing it up to an arm's length eye level so he could read aloud. He furrowed his brow for a moment, and then chuckled before finally bringing the microphone to his mouth and delivering the question to the audience.

"The question asks, 'How does a woman become loose?'" Liang said.

The small audience, gathered to play bingo and have anonymous questions about sex answered, broke into laughter. Liang let it ride out before speaking again. "Well, considering that 'loose' is kind of a derogatory term, I don't think I'm going to answer that," Liang said. "But it refers to a woman's promiscuity, and it's really up to each individual's personal standards."

The office of Student Affairs' health and wellness division held Condom Bingo in the GWP Atrium on March 5 during the lunch hour. The event was open to all students who wished to learn more about sex and safer sex practices. Planned Parenthood provided free condoms and a variety of literature on responsible sexuality.

The main event consisted of four rounds of bingo, interspersed with breaks which Liang and his colleagues used to answer questions anonymously written on purple cards placed in a basket. The tournament began with two normal bingo rounds before moving into an "X-rated" round requiring players to make an 'X' on their cards, and finishing with an "O for Orgasm" round, in which the winner had to mark all the outside markers on their card. Prizes included penis-shaped lollipops, "blue ball" suckers, and condoms galore. The items were provided by Hustler Hollywood, a Tacoma-based sex shop which Liang described as a professional and sex-positive establishment.

"It's great. You don't have to go down into a creepy basement or anything," Liang said. "Everyone was really nice and helpful."

The primary purpose of the event was education, and attendees testified that they learned valuable information thanks to the event.

"I didn't know that a girl could get pregnant at any time," Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences Junior Mandie Petrenchak said, after Liang explained that there was no safe period in a woman's menstrual cycle to have intercourse without the possibility of pregnancy. "Thank you. You justified this entire event," Liang said in reply.

Aurora Jewell, a representative of Planned Parenthood and UWT alumni, was present to provide accurate birth control information to attendees.

She declined an anonymous request to demonstrate how to put on a condom with one's mouth, but she obliged in a demonstration of proper condom use, using a volunteer fingers.

The tone of the event was light-hearted throughout, providing students with the facts without lectures or judgments. The objective was to create a comfortable environment as well as to educate.

"This was very fun and everyone should participate," freshman Kelsey Antkowiak said.

"The prizes were fabulous, especially my lollipop," Petrenchak said, sucking on her phallic-shaped pop. Liang encouraged students to contact Planned Parenthood for more answers to sex questions, and to attend more sex-positive events.

"Education is the way to stop anything," freshman Chelsea Namikas said.

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