Fury as university offers students £400 to have sex on camera
A UNIVERSITY has provoked anger by offering to pay couples £400 to be filmed having sex.
Coventry University wants to recruit three couples aged between 18 and 25 to take part in the safe sex videos.
They will be filmed in what it described as ‘natural settings’ such as student accommodation – or a car.
The films aim to promote the message that using a condom doesn’t ‘kill the mood’. Students and non-students alike are eligible to take part.
They are being filmed as part of the university’s Chance2Change project, which aims to encourage the increased use of condoms by people as young as 15, a year below the age of consent. The graphic films will be available only to over-18s.
The project has been funded by the Medical Research Council, a nondepartmental public body paid for through the Government’s science and research budget.
But Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, yesterday accused the university of wasting public money in order to follow a ‘trendy, right-on agenda’.
He said: ‘All education institutions are expected to look after the sexual welfare of their students but I struggle to understand why Coventry University feels the need to delve into territory like this.
‘The internet is awash with sex films which could be used to preach its message, without paying couples to film pornographic videos of their own.’
Margaret Morrissey, a former school governor and chairman of the Parents Outloud campaign group, said: ‘They are offending the intelligence of their students by thinking they need educational videos such as this.
‘With the nature of the internet, these videos could stay in circulation for years. Any students taking part in them could jeopardise future employment prospects.’ The films will form part of a package available for students and others aged between 18 and 25 nationwide, which can be accessed when applying for sexually transmitted infection testing kits through the freetest.me web portal.
Dr Katie Newby, a research fellow who is leading the project, said the vidand eos will aim to show people that, contrary to popular belief, sex can still be fun and erotic even when pausing to put on a condom.
Alongside the videos of couples having sex, other clips will be available of people talking about putting condoms on in a way ‘which increases pleasure’ couples talking about how condoms factor into their sex lives.
She said the films will use ‘real couples in loving, consensual relationships and be tastefully shot’.
Young people will have to fill in details about themselves, such as their age, gender and where they live, when they apply for the self-testing kits. The details they enter will determine how many out of one to six ‘services’, including the sex films, they can then access.
Some of the other services include a sample pack of 12 condoms or a headphone case with a ‘secret pocket’ to store condoms.
Dr Newby, who is based at the university’s Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research, said the project team hoped the initiative would reduce sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates among 15 to 24-year-olds, who are ‘inconsistent’ in their condom use.
‘They’re following a right-on agenda’