https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLdElcv5qqc
This PSA was put out by the White House conveying ant-sexual assault messages. The ad uses not only politicians but famous celebrities as well such as Steve Carrel, Daniel Craig, and Seth Myers. The ad concentrates on sexual abuse towards women happening on college campuses. The video clearly defines what consent is and how without it, sexual acts are considered rape.
1 out of 6 american females have been a victim of an attempted or committed rape (https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims). 80% of the victims are under the age of 30. Obviously being a college student, this topic is very relevant to me and my peers. We all hear stories about these acts happening, but seeing them play out in real life can be very alarming. However, I think it's a shame that in public school education, or at least mine, had little to no conversation about the topic that would better inform us about what consent is and to communicate to someone if you are feeling uncomfortable. Most schools barely teach about sex, one out of four teens receives only abstinence based sex education (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-Teen-Sex-Ed.html). These programs usually do not focus on sexual assault, but on resisting sex itself (which is usually addressed towards females). This can create a message saying that males only wants sex from you, and if one does get sexually assaulted or raped it is her own fault. It seems weird that this type of education would not try to relay messages of consent. It scares me to think about how many people go into college and do not know the proper meaning of consent.
I know the only reason I have knowledge about it is because I did extra programs that my high school had outside of class that spoke about it. I also remember learning the meaning in law class. This is very strange because girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely of getting raped of sexually assaulted (https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims). It seems important to teach students about these acts and ways to prevent them. It appears that college is too late to start teaching these things. Our education system needs to be more proactive in discussing ways people can prevent sexual misconduct. If you don't believe me, here is some direct evidence from the comments of the video illustrating people's views on the video: "Or people who aren't stupid enough to fall for male shaming bullshit. Go tell a murderer to stop murdering, see how effective that is dipshit. Or better yet, Ted Bundy killed a lot of people. thus men need to be taught not to kill. Shit is straight the fuck out of soviet Russia"- ohheyboy2k4. "cheap feminist propaganda"-comme le vent. Guys, I would love to stoop to your low and actually explain why a video attacking sexual harassment is important and helpful. But since most of the responses I receive will consist of remarks such as, "what about men?" and "women shouldn't wear such slutty clothes" and "telling men not to rape is like telling them not to murder or steal" and "shut up white knight cunt," "- Tim Kirtland
Were you ever taught what consent was? Where and when did you learn? Has it evolved? Any other reactions to this PSA?
-Rebecca G.
Learning how to talk "the talk". A blog dedicated to discussing the resources we have in our community and its members regarding sex education.
I was never told was the definition of consent actually was, but I was told I could give it, or not. I find it so infuriating and intriguing at the same time to read comments on video posts and just see how the rest of the world thinks. It's scary when you realize these people aren't just on the far side of the country, but there are people just like them in our own city, and our own schools. Giving consent can be great, but it's important to teach people to respect consent. I think it's great that influential people (as sad as it is that they're celebrities, sorry not sorry) are taking a stand, but it needs to be bigger than just the actors, we need directors and writers to be on board with sending a more positive message to the youth.
ReplyDeleteI have been taught in school what consent is but perhaps only abstractly; aka have consensual sex and consent means you want what's happening. But I didn't receive many practical tips on how to give/not give consent. Should it be both verbal and nonverbal? And how many times do you have to give consent? For each and every time you have sex or multiple times during sex? Does consent last until the "No" bomb? And why does it seems so explosive to say "No"? Having practical education about how to say no would be very beneficial because I sometimes think that consent is like the legal system but instead of being innocent until proven guilty is it consensual until proven non-consensual (especially considering how rape cases are handled sometimes). Female consent seems to be always implied (i.e. being whistled at on the side of the road is seen as a compliment/something the female should be satisfied to receive) and non-consent/rejecting this attention is still very opposed to the female script of passivity and sexual availability.
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