Kinky sex, K-dramas, and sports betting were some of the topics spoken about by past and present El Camino College forensics team members at an event Tuesday, Nov. 19, in the Marsee Auditorium.
Over 350 students attended the Speaker’s Forum, which is held at least once every semester and showcases speeches, an enactment of a written work and a debate by students involved in forensics, which is competitive speaking.
ECC alum Alex Christenson began a 10-minute, memorized speech on kinks with an anecdote about a person seeking help from the r/BDSMAdvice Reddit forum after a dating encounter ended in physical injuries, with users deeming it a sexual assault.
“Because [the internet is] such a big part of the culture of my generation, older Gen Z, I think it’s really interesting to look at how the internet impacts and affects our lives, even in ways we might not expect, like seeking advice on Reddit as opposed to asking a therapist,” Christenson, 22, said to The Union.
Christenson’s speech advocated for education on safer kink practices and highlighted that Generation Z is the “kinkiest” age group among millennials, Gen X and baby boomers, according to a report by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
Francesca Bishop, communication studies professor and forensics team director, said the team looks for obscure, academic topics for persuasive speeches, and gave the audience a content warning in case children were present before Christenson spoke.
Prior to the event’s start, Bishop asked the audience to select a debate topic by yelling out ideas, yielding sports betting.
“It’s a way to kind of prove to the audience that our debaters can debate anything given 15 minutes preparation time,” Bishop said.
For many years, she said the audience consistently chose the legalization of marijuana in California as the topic.
“Once we legalized marijuana, I was quite relieved because I thought ‘Great, we’ll get different topics,’ but then students wanted to federally legalize weed,” Bishop said. “In the last few performances though, they’ve chosen other, quite difficult topics.”
Economics major Abigail Sucup, 20, and English major Alec Lyons, 23, debated sports betting, with Sucup advancing an argument for it to be federally criminalized, while Lyons instead argued for legalization with regulation.
Economics major Thomas Steinmetz, 21, agreed with Lyons’ position and said the topic was a good choice. He thought each student presented well.
“It’s nice to see the students under pressure, I kind of get what it’s like to be on a stage, it’s tense and I think they performed nice … there were no hiccups or anything, it was impressive to see,” Steinmetz said.
Bishop gave Associated Students Organization President Zaynah Robb three quotes to choose from as the basis for a five-minute impromptu speech.
Robb stood on stage as she prepared her remarks under a two-minute time constraint.
Robb opened by mentioning her favorite K-drama, “Marry My Husband,” which she was reminded of by the selected quote, “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions,” attributed to former football coach and television analyst Lou Holtz.
She disagreed with the quote and said that taking action is also important, highlighting the careers of Jamaican dancehall artist Spice, former Dance Moms contestant Nia Frazier and architect Patrick Anderson.
Speech and Debate Club President Nia Gordon, 20, began the event with an extemporaneous speech in favor of Congress expanding paid family leave, which she prepared 30 minutes prior to speaking after selecting from three random topics.
Robb said the event is an opportunity to share with the campus what the speech and debate team is about, since they often only perform in front of two people when at tournaments.
“It’s fun to actually display and like show what we talk about and … how you can also take very serious issues and make it lighthearted, and be entertaining with it,” political science and sociology major Robb, 22, said.
The event ended with an oral interpretation of a short written work which the presenter adapts for the performance.
Feigning a drag of a cigarette, gesticulating and making expressions of shock and fright, Christenson recited a rewritten version of the Jeff the Killer “creepypasta,” which are short, fictional horror stories from the internet.
Christenson, who was on ECC’s forensics team for two years, is now on the forensics team at California State University, Long Beach, where she is a communications major.
Student taking ECC communications classes receive class credit for attending the show, which also serves as a fundraiser for the team.
Tickets cost $12 in advance of the event, and $18 the day of, but students with an ASO sticker receive a $2 discount.
The event came on the heels of two tournament-filled weekends for ECC’s debaters at Grossmont College, Palomar College and California State University, Northridge, where they earned a sweepstakes award for winning more points than any other two- or four-year college.
Debate team members will next head to a tournament at Mt. San Antonio College taking place from Friday, Dec. 5, to Sunday, Dec. 7.
Editor’s note:
- This story was updated Thursday, Nov. 20, to add a photo gallery.
