Student Advocates for Planned Parenthood (SAPP) are hosting an open-mic for those that want to talk about sex and sexuality, feminism, and healthcare issues they find important at the Mill on Thursday at 7 p.m.

This open-mic is a new venture for SAPP. After receiving a recent grant from Planned Parenthood, the student organization was tasked to do a month long event with the theme of sexuality education.

SAPP is hosting various sexuality education events throughout the month, such as a sex education Jeopardy themed game at Studio 13 later this month, Teach-ins about various sex topics like consent and sex toys, but the open-mic night at the Mill is one that SAPP is really excited about bringing members of Iowa City together through.

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“We wanted something that would bring the community together,” Elena Greene, Vice President of SAPP said. “And give the community a chance to speak out about the issues relating to healthcare, and feminism, and sexuality in general, and body autonomy, from their own perspective. We thought that an open mic night would be a really great way of doing that. Especially since we are in Iowa City and there are so many wonderful writers around.”

Greene has been with SAPP since it’s beginning three years ago and has had her life affected greatly by Planned Parenthood.

“I was in a domestic violence relationship for the first year of my teenage life and had no idea I was in a domestic violence relationship,” Greene said. “I didn’t have the education and the terminology. I had no knowledge to apply to what was happening to me. When I started participating in this sex-ed team group through Planned Parenthood I was able to gain a lot of information that help me start and recover and name what happened.”

With this event, SSAP is hoping to not only educate people about sexuality, but also help connect members of the community.

“I think that it can be really easy to feel alone right now, especially with all the attacks on basic human rights that our happening in our country and around the world” Greene said. “To provide a space for people to come and be surrounded by people who might not even be like minded but support the same values of human rights and some of the themes were hoping will come up in people’s performances.”

The power of these performances are something that will help create a sense of connection to all those who attend, with a set of poets, musicians, and original essay readings this open mic hopes to use storytelling as a way for understanding and expression.

“We’re really hoping to provide a safe space for storytelling,” Greene said. “Planned Parenthood really believes in the power of storytelling that I can really connect people from different walks of life and belief systems by uniting them under the emotions that can be shared in storytelling. Also hopefully encourage people to meet another activist in the field.”