Consent – The Constant Issue

University is a confusing environment. For many students, this is the first time where you live independently of familial environments, and there is a new-found freedom of independence. Often students are surrounded by issues to do with drinking and other substances, and this means a wrong decision can rapidly descend into crisis.

The issue of sexual ‘consent’ is a simple one; no means no. However, at university, it is all too common for lines of consent to be blurred and alliances of trust to be formed on both the side of the victim and the accused. There are too many stories of students who have been exploited in these moments of weakness, which has therefore resulted in trauma, embarrassment and often the fear of public shame and humiliation.

We at Queen Mary Netball have decided to investigate what ‘consent’ means in the context of the University environment. We want people to start having these difficult conversations in order to make people aware that this is both a serious and prolific problem that is often overlooked.

This video shows ten brave sports club members starting these difficult conversations. The statements read out are in response to an anonymous forum whereby we asked people to state their opinions about ‘sexual consent’ at University.

We hope this video opens up peoples’ vision about the issue and starts even more important conversations.