It isn’t often that you’ll find a group of students crowded into the Village C West Alumni Lounge on a week night for educational purposes. But when the topic is sex, as it was on Wednesday night, it’s a whole different story.

And while most sexual discussions may border on awkward for some or just plain vulgar for others, this one was, well, more playful.

The room was filled with students, mostly freshmen, laughing, talking, enjoying free ice cream and playing the everyone’s favorite game show with Alex Trebek — but with a twist. All of the categories were about sex at Georgetown as the event, hosted by Student Health Services and InterHall and Residence Life staff from Village C West, aimed to educate students about numerous sexual issues, including sexual health and sexual orientation.

A sample question: “First published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. Features more explicit views of the female genetalia.” Answer: “What is Hustler?” Not exactly the type of information that could help someone in an uncomfortable situation.

Kevin Mallinson, a professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the evening’s Alex Trebek, said that the event provided an important opportunity for students to have frank discussions and to begin “demystify sex.” He also said that the event, “to use a nice Jesuit term, will give students a chance to reflect on why they’re having sex.”

Mallinson, who is also an HIV-AIDS specialist, believes that topics such as sexually transmitted infections and other health issues “shouldn’t embarrass college students,” which is why he hopes that programs such as Sex Jeopardy won’t be the last of their kind.

Mari Reed (SFS ’09), a resident assistant in Village C West and one of the coordinators of the event, says that the event was designed to get people talking about various sexual issues, including sexual health and sexual orientation. She hoped that the event would appeal to many different residents in order to clear up “lots of assumptions about sex that aren’t true.”

Of course, there can be no discussion of sex without the overriding issue of Georgetown’s Jesuit identity coming into play. Condoms are not sold and birth control prescriptions can’t be filled on campus because of the university’s commitment to Catholic values.

Tessa Telly, a heath promotion counselor from Heath Services, says the game was designed to be “a creative way to talk about issues without infringing on the university’s values.”

Kate Voss (SFS ’11) eagerly anticipated the event, hoping it would be a forum for “socially responsible entertainment.” But some other responses were less enthusiastic, with the most popular reason for attendance being “my RA made me.”

“So far it doesn’t really shock me. Entertaining, but I expected something a lot harder,” Eileen Nguyen (SFS ’11) said.

The competition itself bore a decent resemblance to Jeopardy. There were two rounds with five teams competing by buzzing in to answer, in the form of a question, with prompts in categories such as “Oh no, I hope it’s not…,” “Sex at Georgetown,” “That’s What She Said,” and “Sex in the City’s Newsstands.”

The competition was mainly between floors in VCW and the information was chiefly aimed at freshmen. While it was a worthwhile attempt at creating a safe and fun environment to have a serious discussion the audience reaction suggested otherwise. Professor Mallinson was an enthusiastic host and his slightly off color jokes, about sex and different parts of human anatomy, got the audience and participants laughing. The students were also cracking up at the various innuendos and one-liners being yelled across the room, adding to the event’s light atmosphere.