{"id":2242,"date":"2025-08-06T22:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/why-consent-belongs-in-the-classroom\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:49:07","slug":"why-consent-belongs-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/why-consent-belongs-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Why consent belongs in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

As a young woman and high school student educator, I stood before high school students in Washtenaw County during a sex education presentation, to ask a seemingly simple question: \u201cWhat does consent mean?\u201d I saw a few students exchanging glances, casting blank stares at the question in big bold letters on the projection screen. Most didn\u2019t answer \u2014 the discomfort in the room was palpable. Everyone knew the word, but no one was comfortable speaking about it. Specifically for many young women in the room, silence was learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conversations around sex have long reflected the perspectives of dominant identities<\/a>, while sidelining the voices of the marginalized: women. Messages embedded in purity culture have expected women, in contrast to men, to be modest and \u201csexually pure.\u201d This actively discourages conversations about sex and boundaries. In that context, even the act of raising a hand to define \u201cconsent\u201d can feel rebellious as a young woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watching the young women in the room hesitate helped me understand that consent isn\u2019t just hard to talk about, but it is also hard to truly understand when you have never been shown what it looks like. Consent is a term so frequently used in today\u2019s culture that it becomes abstract when it comes to applying the term to relationships. It\u2019s one thing to define \u201cconsent\u201d in one word or phrase in front of your class. It\u2019s a completely different emotional experience to apply it yourself and say \u201cno\u201d to a loved one, knowing it might hurt them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why, when presenting, I turned to a practical tool that will help in various uncomfortable situations where assertive consent is needed; it is a handy acronym called FRIES. The F is so consent is freely given, as in not a result of peer pressure. The R stands for reversible, as people are entitled to change their mind at any time. It represents the fact that consent should be informed, where all parties involved are aware of what they are agreeing to. The E stands for enthusiastic, meaning that consent should come from genuine excitement.\u00a0<\/p>\n