Define Your Line Campaign Encourages Open Sexual Communication

Texas Tech University students hold up a sign reading, “Have Better Sex.”

Preparing to announce “Define Your Line,” a sexual communication and awareness campaign, this group of about 20 students will be speaking to a variety of student organizations, and spreading key points of the movement, before the official launch on March 23.

Students speak in a Define Your Line campaign launch video in the basement of the Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication on Friday. (Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU)

Focusing on reaching student organizations, these students are stocked with input cards, asking participants to answer questions such as, “How can you tell if a girl wants to have sex?” “Do guys ever feel pressured to say yes to sex?” and “What are girls thinking if they are quiet during sex?”

On Feb. 15, Texas Tech Campus Crime Alert mass-emailed students a notification of an alleged sexual assault from earlier that morning, in compliance with a federal crime reporting policy. Four days later, another message detailed a similar incident. Last semester, Texas Tech fraternity Phi Delta Theta was placed in escrow after being connected to a banner reading “No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal.”

“I think there’s a need for this on every university campus,” Autumn Shafer, Texas Tech assistant professor and a faculty adviser of Define Your Line, said of active sexual communication. “This is such a big issue right now, as you may have noticed nation-wide.”

Students Jasmine Stevens, left, and Mariah Williams prepare to speak in a Define Your Line campaign launch video in the basement of the Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication on Friday. (Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU)

The professor notes that she, Rebecca Ortiz, a Texas Tech assistant professor of advertising and faculty adviser of Define Your Line, and students were working on Define Your Line before President Obama launched the “It’s On Us” campaign, to empower bystanders to step in if they witness an individual who may be in danger of sexual assault. According to Shafer, Define Your Line certainly agrees with the message of It’s On Us, but focuses on communication between sexual partners.

“It’s about making sure your partner really wants to do what you’re doing and not just taking silence as a ‘yes,'” Shafer said. “So whether that’s through actually asking, ‘are you into this?’ ‘Do you want to do this?’ ‘Does that feel OK?’ or getting some nonverbal signals that they are cool.”

Last Friday, the student group including Mariah Williams, Jasmine Stevens, Chris Mitchell, Amy Cunningham, Casey Kopp, Gabriela Reyes, Katy McCall, Megan Woodfield, Peyton Schumann, Jessica Brantley and Reece Walker met in the photography studio in the basement of the College of Media & Communication to record a video detailing specifics of the campaign.

Rebecca Ortiz, Texas Tech University assistant professor of advertising, speaks at a Define Your Line meeting in the College of Media & Communication on Friday. (Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU)

“We are Texas Tech students,” the group chanted to the camera, and asked questions similar to those on their questionnaire cards. “And we are unblurring the lines through open sexual communication. We have started the campaign Define Your Line to get a conversation going on campus about stuff we don’t always feel comfortable talking about.”

Shafer explained that the week after spring break the Define Your Line student volunteers will be setting up tables on campus to spread the message directly.

“Dr. Shafer has been one of my professors from multiple classes,” Casey Kopp, a junior public relations major said, “and she kind of recruited me to help out and get extra involved and hands-on.”

The group began planning for Define Your Line last summer. It initially only had seven or eight students, but has grown to about 20, including students from all majors, according to Shafer.

Peyton Schumann, left, and Casey Kopp participate in recording a segment of the Define Your Line campaign launch video in the basement of the College of Media & Communication. (Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU)

“The students come up with the ideas,” Shafer said, emphasizing Define Your Line is student-driven. “We help kind of implement them with the money that we have and our resources.”

According to Shafer, funding for the project has been received from university administration, through Amy Murphy, Texas Tech dean of students, Cathy Duran, Texas Tech assistant vice provost for student affairs, and the College of Media & Communication.

“It’s really about helping people feel more comfortable talking about sexual issues,” Shafer said. “It’s about promoting you feeling comfortable communicating your own sexual willingness or unwillingness.”