A Pennsylvania State University sociology professor reportedly instructed straight students to watch “gay or lesbian porn” to learn if they are bisexual, Fox News reported.
Sam Richards told students in SOC 119 that watching porn could make them realize that they are attracted to members of the same sex, according to Fox News. The Dec. 6 lecture was about “A Conversation on Trans Issues, [Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists], and The Binary.” (RELATED: Harvard University Offers Class On Transgender Medicine For ‘Infants To Older Adults’)
“If you’re straight, watch gay or lesbian porn and see how quickly you feel aroused,” Richards reportedly said. “And how you can’t control that. You’ll realize that, ‘Oh, d—, I could be sexualized by people who are like me.’”
He then reportedly said the everyone is “at some level non-binary” and “easily bisexual.” He also addressed, specifically, the straight and male students about watching porn.
“Watch gay porn. See if you feel that feeling. If you feel that feeling, look in a mirror, and say huh, maybe I’m just feeling some things that I’m just afraid to release,” he reportedly said. “And maybe you release that and maybe you’d be surprised that maybe you actually are fine being more bisexual.”
The lecture was reportedly uploaded to the class YouTube but now appears to have been removed.
“For a professor to be so sexually explicit with students is quite bizarre,” Penn State student Kale Ogunbor told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As a penn state student especially, I was initially shocked and disappointed. It’s embarrassing.”
Penn State reportedly defended the professor’s comment because of the importance of “academic freedom.”
“Professor Richards purposefully teaches in a manner designed to promote discussion across a spectrum of opinions. His class is not mandatory but is a popular elective that students choose to join,” Penn State told Fox News Digital. “Dr. Richards and his course colleagues take time to discuss opinions from many perspectives — from liberal to conservative—and delve into topics from different viewpoints to create conversation, challenge beliefs and encourage students to explore uncomfortable and complex topics.”
Ogunbor told the DCNF that the response was “jarring.”
“In what world is encouraging porn ‘academic freedom’?” she said.
STATE COLLEGE, PA – JULY 08: General view at Happy Valley Jam 2017 in Beaver Stadium on the campus of Penn State University. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Happy Valley Jam)
Richards also reportedly told female students how to urinate like men and told them to use a “a little piece of leather” to “go in the urinal or go outside.”
Every semester, 775 students register for SOC 119, according to the university website. It is “the largest race and ethnic relations course in the country.”
“In that room they have the opportunity to re-examine the world and challenge what they believe to be their place in it from a new perspective,” the website reads. “His class is praised by students and faculty from all sides of the political spectrum.”
Richards and PSU did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
This story has been updated with comment from Penn State student Kale Ogunbor.
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