A university has caused outrage after it told students that they should masturbate as a way of stopping themselves from carrying out sex attacks on nights out.
A slide which was presented at a student orientation session at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York used Winnie the Pooh character, Roo’s name as an acronym about masturbation.
A screenshot from the session was shared on Twitter which showed Roo was short for “rub one out”.
Peachum, who uploaded the screenshot, captioned the picture: “Holy f***, apparently my college revamped their freshman orientation to teach about how to not rape.”
In response, university officials claimed the screenshot was taken out of context .
Sandra Johnson, senior vice president for student affairs, said in a statement: “The overarching goal was to increase awareness and promote discussion about the ways we together can prevent instances of sexual misconduct on our campus.”
She added that the slide was one of 77 shown at the session which was held last month.
Darci Lane-Williams, director of the university’s Centre for Women and Gender, added: “At no point did we say that masturbation is a deterrent to rape.
“We were talking about situations in which someone may want to do something sexually, and their partner withdraws consent and what options they have if they find themselves sexually frustrated once they leave.”
The session called “Alcohol and Chill” was part of a five-day student orientation program, RIT said, and was meant to promote “awareness, prevention, bystander education and risk reduction.”