University students cause controversy after hosting 'female masturbation' classes

Nowadays, you can do some pretty weird courses at college or university. Institutions around the world currently offer programmes such as brewing and distilling alcohol, theatre practice and puppetry, and - perhaps best of all - yodelling. And, of course, there are a fair number of naysayers out there who hold this up as an example of the problem with "kids these days" - but perhaps they should slow down with their criticisms.

After all, the extracurricular activities are often far crazier.

This week, news emerged that the University of Bielefeld in Germany is currently offering female masturbation classes to women who aren't all that clued up on the ol' solo sex stuff.

And, unsurprisingly, it's left a lot of people angry.

Credit: Pexels

Those who have shown the strongest opposition to the class are a religious group known as Christian Democratic Party (RCDS). They described the event as "a bad joke" and insisted that it was inappropriate for the university.

Not all of their qualms are based on moral grounds, however.

The event is being hosted as part of a wider series by the General Student Committee, and is titled "Society Makes Gender". While the RCDS has had little to say about the other events, they have taken umbrage with this one because they do not genuinely believe that the content of the class will provoke a "serious" discussion on gender relations.

But perhaps they're jumping the gun a little with their assumptions here, as the event's description on Facebook gives a very detailed schedule of what is set to go ahead in the two-part class.

Credit: Pexels

The workshop is supposedly going to consist of two 90-minute segments, part of which is theoretical, and led by an activist and sex specialist, while the other part is... more hands-on, shall we say. In fact, the event asks participants to bring a hand mirror, a towel, and some lubricant. So we can pretty much infer what's going on here.

Hosts of the event claim that it has been prepared "as a means of enlightenment, as well as empowerment."

RCDS, meanwhile, maintains that it is a waste of money, as the "lessons" reportedly cost reportedly cost €250 ($304) and may have been funded with the student budget. Plus, as there were only 10 places on the course, the Christian party felt that very few people would benefit - if at all - from what was being taught.

"We want to know what the costs of the event are and whether semester contributions from students will be used for this purpose," said Kathrin Krause, a chairperson for RCDS.

Credit: Pexels

Unfortunately for the Christian Society (and luckily for those who have signed up for the course on self-stimulation), the university can't do anything to stop the class from going ahead. "The event is not a university [function], and the university does not evaluate the content of student events," they said in a statement.

Well, seeing as it's going ahead anyway, let's just hope that the women who enrolled learned some useful skills from the class.