Long before they became co-president of The University of Melbourne’s sexiest club, Mabel Shelley had a passion for discussing sexuality. “I’ve always liked the transgressive,” they tell me with a smile over coffee at Castro’s Kiosk, backdropped by the Elizabeth Murdoch building’s frowning Victorian-era architecture. In powder blue eyeshadow and a drag-punk pairing of leopard print and tartan, Shelley could be the breath of fresh air collegiate sex education may well need. 

Shelley is a 20-year-old Gender Studies major. For the last two years, they have served as the co-president of Sexpression, a student-led club with the mission of facilitating frank and informative conversations among young adults about sex, relationships, and power. Best described by Patrick Baldwin, Shelley’s co-president, Sexpression offers students “a great mix of academic discussions of sexuality and also a great opportunity to get a university-funded vibrator.”

Yep, that’s a thing.

One might ask why a sexual literacy club needs to exist at all. Don’t these things get taught in iconically awkward PE lessons in Highschool? 

The answer is kind of.

Sex education in primary and secondary schools in Australia features the big hits: puberty, contraception, safe sex practices, and, since 2023, when the curriculum became mandatory nationally, lessons on consent and respectful relationships. But still there’s a lot being left out. Even at The University of Melbourne, education around intimacy begins and ends at compulsory modules for first year students focused on preventing sexual violence and misconduct. But is this really all young people need to know to live happy, healthy sex lives? This is where Sexpression comes in, inviting university students to take a peek into the wide world of sexual literacy. 

“It’s such a prime time for people to explore themselves,” Shelley explains. “They’re adults so they can finally be independent and come into who they are and for a lot of people that includes sexual experimenting…so if we can give some guidance to navigate that responsibly, respectfully, I think that’s really important.”

Since its establishment in 2019, Sexpression has centred sexual health in its mission, but under Shelley’s leadership, the focus has broadened. Drawing on their gender studies background, Shelley has guided the club towards a careful balance of scholarly discourse and upbeat social events.

 Just after dark one Thursday night, once the rush of classes had subsided, a group of students perched around a table of snacks in the chemistry building for Sexpression’s monthly book club. Despite the classroom setting, this event was by no means a lecture. Between sips of a juice box, Shelley read passages from a sticky note-riddled copy of Alice Wong’s Disability Intimacy and threw questions out to the audience. The group debated fetishisation, representation in pornography, and the nuances of skin hunger as they grazed on a dinner of popcorn and chips.

Days later, when I ask Shelley if they felt like an expert on sex and sexuality given the considerable amount of research they put into club events like this one, they visibly grimace. An evident no. As a student society, Sexpression is an exercise in “collective learning.” 

“I’m always learning more,” they explain. “I don’t want to use my position as co-president to teach people, but more to organise people to get educated…It’s a student club. It’s for us to all meet and learn together.”

Set free to wander the internet as a kid, Shelley was drawn to feminist accounts on Instagram and Twitter, enthralled by questions of how society views gender, sexuality, and self-expression. As a queer person with an “uncompromising” spirit, they felt out of place growing up in the Western suburbs of Sydney. During lunch breaks in high school, they roamed the streets of Melbourne via Google Maps, imagining what it would be like to move away and live in a city that seemed so full of colour, art, and expression. Perhaps a more accepting place. These days, Melbourne is Shelley’s home. But even here, as a student at a prestigious university characterised by its solemn scholarship, Shelley is still intent on pushing the boundaries, whether through theatrical fashion or their work with Sexpression.

“I always like to stay true to myself, even in situations that it may not be expected or welcome, like somewhere as serious as university. I just like to have fun with how I look and what I do,” they tell me.

In 2025 Shelley introduced Horny Karaoke to Sexpression’s repertoire, an event that merges their intellectual interest in sexuality and gender with their love of drag and performing onstage. Picture around 50 university students gathered in front of a stage in the colourful Evie’s Disco Diner in Fitzroy. Early nerves begin to subside after a few drinks and the line for the microphone starts to snake around the room with contestants. Competitors belt out Troy Sivan’s “Rush” and “Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches in hopes of winning prizes for ‘horniest song choice’, ‘best vocals’, and ‘most sensual performance’. 

If this sounds a bit silly, that’s the point. 

“Sex in society can be really serious. It can be daunting and really sad and unjust. But it can also just be fun and silly,” Shelley explains. “Sex is just a part of people’s lives and it’s often times silly and funny.”

To Baldwin, the broadening of Sexpression’s attention to scholarly and social events is evidence of Shelley’s influence. Though Shelley’s far too courteous to admit it themselves, Baldwin was only too happy to tell me that Sexpression has been “blowing up” since Shelley became co-president. “Silly is a good word,” he tells me. “[Shelley’s] got a really colourful, silly personality.” Events like Horny Karaoke that take a break from serious subjects and embrace the fun, light-hearted side of sex in our culture have grown the attendance of Sexpression’s events from 20 odd people to over 100, suggesting sex education with a sense of humour might be exactly what people want. 

But despite its growing popularity, Sexpression is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are certainly some who aren’t so sure about vibrator giveaways and Horny Karaoke nights being a part of the University’s culture. Sexpression’s safe sex stalls on the South Lawns always gets their fair share of anxious giggles and quizzical side-eyes from the student body, but to Shelley and Baldwin, most of their pushback isn’t mean-spirited. 

“We always approach them with a smile and offer them a condom and if they don’t take it, they don’t take it,” Shelley says, acknowledging the club has its sceptics. “It’s not gonna be for everyone and that’s fine, but I think it’s good to stay curious.”