Why schools should be required to teach about consent
Attention catcher:
More than 1 in 3 women experienced sexual violence involving physical contact
during her lifetime. The majority of this sexual assault are victims under 30 years old.
The problem has gotten more relevant lately, especially since the #MeToo
movement. However, schools aren’t acting on this rising issue.
Problem:
Most young girls who are reaching puberty are given advice by their parents for their
own safety. Don’t walk alone at night, don’t wear clothes that are too revealing and
never let a stranger hold your drink. Of course it is necessary to give advice about
the safety of a young girl, but we should focus more on the root of the problem.
Instead of focussing on how the girls should react on sexual assault, the emphasis
should lie on informing the youth about consent to prevent the issue. Statistics show
that while girls are given advice on how not to be sexually assaulted, boys aren’t
taught as much about these topics. Parents tend to frame conversations around
reducing the risk of assault rather than how important consent and boundaries are.
An investigation by The Associated Press found out that roughly 17.000 sexual
assaults were comitted by U.S. students in the timeframe from 2011 to 2015 1. This
number is likely much bigger, since not every sexual assault is reported. It also
happens often that sexual assault is mislabeled as bullying, especially within the first
years of high school. When schools should be a safe place for all children, sexual
assault happens a lot on the schoolgrounds. For example, in an Ohio high school in
2016, four boys forced a 14-year-old girl into a closet and assaulted her 2. Even in
elementary schools boys are making up games that involve groping their female
classmates. In a public school in Seattle, a girl was raped by a high school
classmate. The rape occurred in the presence of other students. In my opinion, this
is just horrible. Everyone should be able to feel safe, especially in a learning
environment like school. The issue is focussed on girls preventing sexual assault
from happening, but we should look into giving inclusive education for all teenagers.
Where parents have a lack of knowledge about teaching their children sex
education, you’d expect schools to fill in the gaps, especially on subjects with such
importance. As it is, from the 24 states in America that teach sex education at all,
which is a problem of it’s own, only 8 of them are required to at least mention
consent3. As a result of never learning about the importance of respecting someones
bounderies, young people have different views of what constitues sexual consent
and sexual assault. A survey done by Planned Parenthood showed that adults,
specifically men, don’t know ‘’the rules of consent’’ when someone is intoxicated 4.
So, schools aren’t teaching about inclusive sex education, so why are we expecting
that young people have the same understanding of consent?
Attention catcher:
More than 1 in 3 women experienced sexual violence involving physical contact
during her lifetime. The majority of this sexual assault are victims under 30 years old.
The problem has gotten more relevant lately, especially since the #MeToo
movement. However, schools aren’t acting on this rising issue.
Problem:
Most young girls who are reaching puberty are given advice by their parents for their
own safety. Don’t walk alone at night, don’t wear clothes that are too revealing and
never let a stranger hold your drink. Of course it is necessary to give advice about
the safety of a young girl, but we should focus more on the root of the problem.
Instead of focussing on how the girls should react on sexual assault, the emphasis
should lie on informing the youth about consent to prevent the issue. Statistics show
that while girls are given advice on how not to be sexually assaulted, boys aren’t
taught as much about these topics. Parents tend to frame conversations around
reducing the risk of assault rather than how important consent and boundaries are.
An investigation by The Associated Press found out that roughly 17.000 sexual
assaults were comitted by U.S. students in the timeframe from 2011 to 2015 1. This
number is likely much bigger, since not every sexual assault is reported. It also
happens often that sexual assault is mislabeled as bullying, especially within the first
years of high school. When schools should be a safe place for all children, sexual
assault happens a lot on the schoolgrounds. For example, in an Ohio high school in
2016, four boys forced a 14-year-old girl into a closet and assaulted her 2. Even in
elementary schools boys are making up games that involve groping their female
classmates. In a public school in Seattle, a girl was raped by a high school
classmate. The rape occurred in the presence of other students. In my opinion, this
is just horrible. Everyone should be able to feel safe, especially in a learning
environment like school. The issue is focussed on girls preventing sexual assault
from happening, but we should look into giving inclusive education for all teenagers.
Where parents have a lack of knowledge about teaching their children sex
education, you’d expect schools to fill in the gaps, especially on subjects with such
importance. As it is, from the 24 states in America that teach sex education at all,
which is a problem of it’s own, only 8 of them are required to at least mention
consent3. As a result of never learning about the importance of respecting someones
bounderies, young people have different views of what constitues sexual consent
and sexual assault. A survey done by Planned Parenthood showed that adults,
specifically men, don’t know ‘’the rules of consent’’ when someone is intoxicated 4.
So, schools aren’t teaching about inclusive sex education, so why are we expecting
that young people have the same understanding of consent?
