Reminiscing about my fresher 's week last year, my personal highlights were getting to know the wonderful people in my staircase, signing up to dozens of exciting societies (many of which I would never actually attend) and going my first ever college Bop. I 'm sure that everyone would agree that when they saw their fresher 's week timetables, the mandatory talks on alcohol awareness and sexual consent were hardly the highlights. However, news this week that students around the country, including at Oxford, had been walking out of and/or protesting against sexual consent classes really shocked and upset me.
This year, for the first time ever, Freshers at every Oxford college will be told to attend mandatory sexual consent workshops as part …show more content…
Don’t rape. No means no. Whilst both of these statements are 100% true, they do not by any means cover the complexity of sexual consent. These workshops are about opening up discussion. Sexual consent is a very complex issue and if you don’t understand that, you probably aren’t ready to be having sex in the first place. The classic ‘if you don’t understand sexual consent then you probably shouldn’t be at university anyway’ is a ridiculous statement. No means no is very black and white. And rightly so. But that only scratches the surface. I would counter that if you don’t acknowledge the complexity of sexual consent and show compassion for those who have been victims as a result of this complexity, amongt other factors, then you probably shouldn’t be at …show more content…
I also spoke to several freshers. One female said that she ‘had preconceptions about the workshops, but they were actually run really well. It was really useful to be able to talk about consent in a relaxed, but structured environment.’ A group of three male freshers told me that they assumed the workshop would paint them as potential attackers and lecture them on lad-culture, but that in fact, the workshop discussed assault towards men too. One student said ‘the workshop wasn’t what I expected. It actually covered issues that I had never thought about before and I think it’s good that [my] college wants to support people through these issues.’
So should these workshops be mandatory? Absolutely. Realistically, if they are labelled as being optional, then the majority of people are not going to attend. Fresher’s week is a hectic, exhausting week and most people would rather spend those 90 minutes resting or with their new found friends than sitting in a seminar room. More importantly, the people who could benefit most from these sorts of workshops are the people who would be least likely to
This year, for the first time ever, Freshers at every Oxford college will be told to attend mandatory sexual consent workshops as part …show more content…
Don’t rape. No means no. Whilst both of these statements are 100% true, they do not by any means cover the complexity of sexual consent. These workshops are about opening up discussion. Sexual consent is a very complex issue and if you don’t understand that, you probably aren’t ready to be having sex in the first place. The classic ‘if you don’t understand sexual consent then you probably shouldn’t be at university anyway’ is a ridiculous statement. No means no is very black and white. And rightly so. But that only scratches the surface. I would counter that if you don’t acknowledge the complexity of sexual consent and show compassion for those who have been victims as a result of this complexity, amongt other factors, then you probably shouldn’t be at …show more content…
I also spoke to several freshers. One female said that she ‘had preconceptions about the workshops, but they were actually run really well. It was really useful to be able to talk about consent in a relaxed, but structured environment.’ A group of three male freshers told me that they assumed the workshop would paint them as potential attackers and lecture them on lad-culture, but that in fact, the workshop discussed assault towards men too. One student said ‘the workshop wasn’t what I expected. It actually covered issues that I had never thought about before and I think it’s good that [my] college wants to support people through these issues.’
So should these workshops be mandatory? Absolutely. Realistically, if they are labelled as being optional, then the majority of people are not going to attend. Fresher’s week is a hectic, exhausting week and most people would rather spend those 90 minutes resting or with their new found friends than sitting in a seminar room. More importantly, the people who could benefit most from these sorts of workshops are the people who would be least likely to