First brought to light in October, 2015, California is finally taking it’s first step in progressing education by welcoming the topic of consent in Sex-Ed classes. On the first of October, Jerry Brown, California’s Governor, approved a law requiring school districts that include health as a graduation requirement to teach about sexual consent and “yes means yes”. The law also requires state education officials to update curriculum guidelines for high school health classes with information about sexual consent. Now, in January, 2016, the curriculum has just begun updating its curriculum and high school health classes are introducing what it means to consent. This is a huge monument in education, and quite frankly it’s sad California is the only state in the nation to teach such an important affair. Consent is a lesson we all need to learn. Here’s why:
Sexual assault is a subject we’ve been hearing a lot about in the news recently. It feels as though a new case involving a celebrity is opened every week, and most of the time we never hear the verdict unless it is a major star. In fact, most celebrities won’t even take up the case unless directly summoned by a judge. We, the people, are familiar with sexual assault because we hear about it in the news. The problem remains, we don’t exactly know what sexual assault is. (Most of us, anyways.)
In its simplest form, sexual assault is any involuntary sexual act in which a person is coerced or physically forced to act against their will, or any non-consensual sexual touching of a person. However, the line between consensual and nonconsensual often get blurred in the midst of engagement. ABC Family’s Switched At Birth does an excellent job at portraying this. In one episode, ‘How Does A Girl Like You Get To Be A Girl Like You,” one of the main characters, Bay, engages in non-consensual sex with another character, Tank. At the time, both parties are drunk and therefore cannot consent, but the morning after Bay cannot remember what happened and if she even said yes. We learn later in the story that Tank was aware of what he was doing though he was intoxicated, and Bay had not said yes but did not say no, either. The purpose of these episodes was to raise the question of what equals consent, and introduced the idea of “yes means yes.” California’s teaching of consent shares the same purpose.
For high school students especially, the execution of consent often frays from the actual definition, and it gets a bit confusing. Most think consent is given when the other party says a single yes, or if they don’t oppose. If they seem okay with how things are going, there is no reason to think otherwise. However, this assumption is wrong.
Just because the party at hand doesn’t oppose does not mean they agree. If they aren’t prompted, they can’t actually give consent. One must consider that sometimes, we feel scared to say stop or ‘ruin the moment’. We might feel wrong with how things are playing out, but we might not be brave enough to voice as much. This is where the consent education comes in.
Teaching consent polarizes the differences between consensual and nonconsensual. In a classroom setting, students are encouraged to ask questions and receive the clear answers they deserve to feel safe when engaging in sexual activity. A teenager should not have to scour the internet looking for answers they may not even find. They deserve to be educated properly and directly, just as with any other safety protocol learned in Sex-Ed.
We thank you, California, for taking a step in the right direction to educate your youth on consent and hopefully diminish the cases of rape and sexual assault. We also hope America’s other 49 states will take note.
