Lena Solow does not shy away from controversial topics. From teaching Wesleyan students how to talk about sex to running sexual health seminars at high schools around Middletown, Solow is used to answering sensitive questions. She’s also proved that she likes to ask questions, especially about what needs to be changed at Wesleyan. The Argus was lucky enough to sit down with Lena in her Home Avenue living room to talk about ASHA, Franzia, and “beaver teeth.”

The Argus: You’ve been running AIDS and Sexual Health Awareness (ASHA) for the last two years. What is ASHA and how has it changed since you’ve been on the scene?

Lena Solow: We do a lot of stuff on campus around sexual health and we also teach workshops at high schools in and around Middletown. When I joined ASHA freshman year, there was me and five other people. We taught high school workshops and we ran the free STI testing. Then it got a little bit bigger my sophomore year—there were a few more of us. Then we really expanded a lot last year, and we started doing a lot more stuff on campus. We started Safe Sex Fest last year, which brought together a lot of really awesome campus groups. We also made it so that there are core members of ASHA who are super super helpful to me and run a lot of the individual events that happen on campus.

 

A: What are some of your goals for ASHA this year? What are the new things you’re trying out?

LS: I have a couple of goals for ASHA this year. One of them is to really deepen our involvement with the high schools. So we’re going to go to the schools at least a couple of times and we keep in touch with the students and the teachers and make sure that we’re giving them all of the resources that they need. And we also just want to continue to make connections with other groups on campus, and really find out what Wesleyan students actually want and actually need when it comes to their sexual health and their sexual lives. We want to be able to provide that or find out how we can get other people to provide that for them.

 

A: What are some of the craziest things that have happened when you’ve taught people about sexual health?

LS: Okay, let’s see. I get a lot of crazy anonymous questions. I’d say some of the big ones are “What is the average penis size” and “Can you get pregnant from swallowing cum?” Oh, also, one time this kid was like “What is that beaver teeth thing?” and we finally figured out he meant dental dam. Oh, by the way, average penis size is 5.5 – 6 inches and you can’t get pregnant from swallowing cum. You’re welcome, Wes.

 

A: Why do you think sex and talking about sex is so important?

LS: Well, sex is important for all kinds of reasons. Talking about sex…I think that I was really lucky and I had a really open family. My mom bought me a million books. I was always the person teaching my friends about puberty and stuff. And I was part of a really great program in high school that taught me a lot of stuff. I think that, you know, it’s nice to not get pregnant when you don’t want to. It’s important because it’s nice to not have Chlamydia. But it’s also important because it’s nice to have really great sex. And people aren’t taught how to do that and how to talk about that. It’s also great to have some really incredible sex with someone because you both totally want to be there and are telling each other “yes” over and over. That’s awesome. And also, it’s good to fight rape culture.

 

A: What’s lacking in discussions about sex?

LS: A lot. I think one big thing is honesty—it’s scary to actually be honest about what feels good or what pressures you feel or any of that stuff. I think another thing that’s lacking is discussing all of the options—like sex is not just penis in vagina, and relationships don’t have to be just one person, and we need to be more open about all of that. I’m actually working with some other people to do this questionnaire of the campus to see what everyone else thinks is missing—so keep an eye out for that!

 

A: You recently came out as queer. What was that like at Wesleyan?

LS: Wow, I did not expect you to ask that. It’s been really great so far. Everyone at Wesleyan has been really awesome. I always joked that it was bound to happen because there were all these straight girls running ASHA, so somebody had to become queer. That’s not why. But yeah, it’s been really great. We’ve been talking about queering our lesson plan for a while now and I feel like this may give us the impetus to actually make that happen.

 

A: You’re also a dance major. Why do you love to dance?

LS: Oooh! Why do I love to dance? Well, this might sound creepy, but I think that part of the reason that I love to talk about sex is that I love dancing. There’s something about really knowing your body and owning your body and what your body does and respecting that in other people that comes up in both of these things. I love to dance because I love rhythm and I love sweating and I love moving with other people.

 

A: What is your senior project for dance?

LS: I’m working with high school women to create a dance together. I’m really happy because we had our first rehearsal today and it went really well. And I have two awesome Wesleyan students helping me, Emily and Naya—they’re really great. We’re framing this whole thing with the idea of “whose story gets told.” And we’re talking about what their stories are and the stories that they hear about themselves, and how they can be a voice for stories that are not told with their words and with their movement.

 

A: A little birdie told me that you have a penchant for drinking delicious wines and beers as you do your homework. What are some of your favorites?

LS: Oh no, this is too much pressure! People judge you for that! [laughs] I don’t feel like I should say. Oh my gosh. Okay, my favorite beers are Brooklyn Lagers and Blue Moon. And I can’t even pretend that I know enough about wine to say what my favorites are but a step above Franzia is nice.