Live sex show spices up college class

Chicago - No, it wasn't a Monty Python sketch. A human sexuality class really did get a live sex show in an auditorium at Chicago's Northwestern University.

The topic of the day was bondage, swinging and other fetishes. Then, after the class was officially dismissed, students were told they could stick around for a demonstration of sex toys and the female orgasm.

About 100 students - and apparently one of their mothers who was sitting in on the class that day - were in the auditorium when an exhibitionist couple offered to perform.

Most stayed to watch as the woman undressed on stage and her male partner brought her to orgasm with a device that looked like a machine-powered saw with a phallic object instead of a blade.

Sex toys

"It is probably something I will remember for the rest of my life," said student Justin Smith, 21.

"I can't say that about my Econ 202 class and the material that I learned there."

Once the demonstration began, Smith said, "there was a lot of covering of the mouth like 'Oh my gosh.' It was pretty quiet... I didn't really see people take affront, but they were engaged with the experience."

Faith Kroll, 25, said she had planned to simply answer questions and show off her sex toys but was game to demonstrate in the flesh after the students were shown an "absurd, clinical" video.

"One of the students asked what my specific fetish was and mine is being in front of people, having the attention and being used," she told the Chicago Sun-Times. "The students seemed really intrigued."

Appropriate pedagogy

Psychology professor John Michael Bailey said he initially hesitated, but decided to allow the public sex act.

"My hesitation concerned the likelihood that many people would find this inappropriate," he wrote in a statement. "My decision to say 'yes' reflected my inability to come up with a legitimate reason why students should not be able to watch such a demonstration."

The university initially defended the risqué display, with a spokesperson saying in a statement that it "supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge" even though some of the topics may be "controversial".

But as the news went viral on Thursday, the university's president issued a statement saying he was "troubled and disappointed by what occurred".

"I feel it represented extremely poor judgment on the part of our faculty member," North-western University President Morton Schapiro said.

"I have directed that we investigate fully the specifics of this incident, and also clarify what constitutes appropriate pedagogy, both in this instance and in the future."