One in five college women will be assaulted during their time in college in our country
That's one in five too high. Consent is not the lack of no, but instead consent is a verbal yes. Yes! Always is a sex positive consent campaign geared at encouraging college student to ask for consent before having sex while empowering men and women to either say yes or no. During a strategic communications campaign class at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, students compiled ideas together to form the campaign they hoped would resonate throughout all college campuses nationwide.
The Yes! Always campaign is so important because of the sheer size of the problem. Women, 18-24, who are enrolled in college are three times more likely than women, in general, to suffer from sexual violence and at UNR alone, 95 percent of all reported interpersonal assault is alcohol-related. TheYes! Always campaign is focused solely on sexual assault and rape on campuses, but also features a sex positive idea that differs us from almost every other sexual assault campaign out there.
"Don’t be afraid to tell someone you’re into them and don’t be ashamed to spark dialogue about sex and sexual preferences," said Max Kronyak, RSJ student and one of the campaign creators. "Your sex life will thank you, and will assure your sexual advances are received graciously and consensually."
The campaign gains impact by being created by students for students. They've already had a following of people tell them how meaningful their work is and shared an overwhelming amount of appreciation. People have expressed their appreciation and new found confidence by sharing their own stories with the team. Sexual assault is defined as any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient, according to the Department of Justice. The Yes! Always campaign defines consent as a loud and resounding YES, it is not simply a look or signal through body language. It is followed up by explaining how consent is a process as there should be more than one yes, but asked throughout any sexual encounters being mutual between all parties.
In Kronyak's piece, "Consent Never Ruined the Moment" his opinion work for the class, he writes:
"The research my team has done on consent says many feel there’s a stigma around the conversation of consent, and as a result, the request for verbal consent is avoided. A friend of mine recently said, “If we take each others’ clothes off, or if she’s already in the process of (insert graphic sexual experience here), do I really need to interrupt the moment to formally ask, can we have sex?” I get it. That moment can feel awkward and make a man skeptical about whether or not he should move forward with the encounter. He thinks embarrassment is the last thing that should be going down in the bedroom. However, in my experience, I’ve gotten praise from partners as well as a confidence boost when affirmative consent is requested first. Now, I don’t ask for consent in the moment prior to being inside, on top of, or with a mouthful of my partner’s nether-regions, but rather, after confirming a mutual desire."
Consentress is where the sex positive aspect of the campaign really comes from and stands as the "mascot" of the campaign. She represents the sexuality of both men and women. By her being this confident, sexy superhero, it shows that that's alright for people to be confident with their bodies and sexuality.
"A side effect we didn't even think of until people started talking about it is the topic of how she is dressed and sexual assault. It's really become a focus of the campaign actually," said Nick Beaton, RSJ student and one of the campaign creators.
So another message Consentress is pushing out is that, even though she is dressed very sexy, consent is still required. The argument is that she's not asking for it and she's not expecting it. She still wants consent to be asked, and she, like she is encouraging all to be, is confident enough to give a resounding yes or no.
Yes! Always has already been covered by the Sagebrush, Wolf Pack Radio, Fox 11, KOLO 8, the RGJ, Univision and USA Today - not even a full two weeks into the campaign. With hopes to make their project go national, there's a section on the website where people can email the team for materials so they can bring Yes! Always to their campus. They hope students on other campuses will spread the campaign to their campuses, helping to spread the reach of the campaign with how long it will last and continue to make an impact.
To learn more about the campaign or other facts about sexual assault visit yesalways.org, or follow their page on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
