Consent.

It’s seems simple, like it is already a known standard protocol of decent human behaviour, but here we are, in 2024 with statistics like these - More than half of Australian women in their twenties have experienced sexual violence, 97% of girls and women in Australia have experienced street harassment, 1 in 5 women in Australia have been raped, with only 5% of women reporting sexual assault and only 1.7 % of sexual assault cases resulting in a conviction. These statistics are only a few that are outlined in Chanel Contos’ book ‘Consent Laid Bare’. 

Chanel, a young women that one night was sitting around with her girlfriends sharing the tragic tales of hook ups gone bad, only to realise it was scarily common and if her and her friends were masking sexual assault traumas that had occurred under the guise of being the socially acceptable ‘norm’, just how many more women are there?

So at the age of 22, she took to Instagram to respectfully poll the question of what was other girls and women’s experiences, only to have such a response that her social media account exploded. From there, Chanel and her friends did a crowd fund and raised $90,000, which then help build a website and set up the petition teachusconsent.com.

Chanel encouraged girls and women to leave their stories of sexual assault by naming only the perpetrators age and school. Nearly 3 years on and 7,000 testimonies, every previously hidden story has helped create data to push for change, which is exactly what is happening.

Chanel and Teachusconsent.com has reformed education in schools, with consent education now being mandatory in all Australian schools from kindergarten to year 10. They have lead the charge with now making stealthing (where a male removes his condom without consent during intercourse) illegal, and received funding to create consent education material in collaboration with not-for-profit, Our Watch. 

So the question lies, how does one woman manage to make such change? How do you cope when the world turns to you for guidance on what is one of the most weighing and distressing topics? And what does Chanel think is the seed for true societal change for today, as well as the generations to come?

 

Rebecca Bull – Creator / Executive Producer / Co-Host

Zoe Weir – Co-Creator / Co – Host

Sophie Jackson – Producer 

Social Media – Naughty Nancy Social Media Agency

Website / Brand Design – Foster Creative

Video Editor – Luke Morgan

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