What Does Consent Really Mean?

by Pete Wallis, Joseph Wilkins, and Thalia Wallis

[pamela]

Ok, so this was an admirable try at talking to young adults about consent. But I'm not sure how effective it will be. The dialogue reads very much like adults trying to relate to teenagers, and if today's teenagers are anything like I was, that's just not going to make them relate to this at all.

It also demonises things that can be perfectly normal and valid parts of any relationship. The consent discussion is important, making porn and nude pics out to be the enemy kind of negates that. The graphic novel rightly says that everyone views sex differently, and rightly says to promote discussion among partners to find out what the others are into. But it also sets up porn as creating unrealistic expectations about sex, which is not something that I wholeheartedly agree with. In some cases, sure, but teenagers aren't stupid. They can differentiate fantasy from reality, and the way that this presented that kind of made it seem like teenagers were just very 'monkey see, monkey do'.

The entire premise for the discussion on consent was a classmate being raped, which was sort of used as an incidental plot point, which felt sort of...cheap.

I also disagree with the way they handled nudes. Sending nudes is ALSO a matter of consent. It's a matter of trust between two consenting partners. If you send a nude, it's not you who've done anything wrong. The person in the wrong is the person who shares it against your will. I've sent nudes, I've never had them shared online. I consented, and the partners in question respected me by not sharing it. There is nothing wrong with that, and it's a valid way to share your sexuality with your partner.

All in all, this was a great step in promoting discussion about consent, but it fell flat at a few hurdles.