ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shane Drumgold today announced that the charges against Bruce Lehrmann, the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019, have been withdrawn…
Consent education now is patchy and inconsistent. Many schools focus exclusively on safety, which may come at the cost of the enjoyable benefits of human connection.
As a society, we must shift our collective culture away from a silent complacency around interpersonal trauma and towards intentionally working to prevent it.
The next time there’s a scene that makes light of gendered violence, pause and ask: what is really being shown here? Is this really all that funny or is it minimizing actual violence?
Consent doesn’t mean your sexual partner needs to sign a consent form at the beginning of an encounter. It means an ‘enthusiastic yes’, expressed through words or gestures.
Understanding consent is key to avoiding ambiguous and socially awkward encounters and reducing the potential to cause harm. There are lessons in Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’.
Melissa Kang answered hundreds of questions from girls for the Dolly Doctor column. What she found on analysis was a sense of shame when young women experienced sexual pleasure.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and the film Rear Window are great examples of how parents and teachers can use movies and books to start discussions with young people about consent.
To be effective, a video needs to be clear about its message and relatable. The government’s milkshake video seemingly about consent failed on both counts. But these videos get it right.
A gender-justice researcher reviewed the entire newly released government sexuality education resource for teachers. She found several significant problems.
A study on the delivery of sexuality education found some teachers were anxious about parental fear, negative media and political hysteria. Sometimes they watered down ‘risky’ content.
Children take their lead from their parents. And it is, after all parents, not teachers, who have regular, long-term contact with children from birth onwards.
Juries in rape cases must decide whether the prosecution has proven there was no free and voluntary consent. And this is where broader societal attitudes come into play.
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary