The University of Toronto is offering undergraduates a program in which they can learn about sexual role-play, flogging and restraint. The Sexual Diversity Program, established eight years ago, brings an academic approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual issues. The professors at the university say it's a serious field of study.

Director David Rayside tells Reuters, "It's a very serious analytical exercise, and it isn't what a lot of people think it is." "A lot of the people from the university, from the president on down, think that what we're doing is important work," Rayside says. "But there's still a lot entailed at persuading more people that what we're doing is legitimate."

Plans to make the program a full undergraduate major, and to offer masters and PhD degrees in the subject are in the works. The university hopes the degreed programs will be in full swing by 2008.

Robbie Morgan, a 33-year-old graduating student, says, " It's not sexy sex sex, where we're talking about whips and chains, but we will talk about whips and chains. "We'll talk about whips and chains in a political, social, cultural, religious context of sexuality and how that sexuality affects those institutions."

The program looks at the history and performances of sexual practices, along with the laws regarding them. Classes like "Theories of Sexuality" and "Sexual Diversity Politics" are some of the more traditional courses in the program. Some of the classes - like "Sexual Performance: Case Studies in S/M (sadomasochism)" and the art and literature class "Queerly Canadian - can't be found in many universities.

Toronto has one of the largest gay and lesbian populations in the world, and Canadian provinces were the first jurisdiction to legalize gay marriages. Rayside says these factors make it an ideal location for the program.

"This is a city that has diversified a lot, and is muddling through how to recognize that diversity in ways that are quite interesting," he explains. "We're located in the heart of a tremendous laboratory where cultural and international differences actually play a role, and that's part of what we do."