consentlabs

Reflecting on an incredible year at Consent Labs! 🌟

In 2023, we’ve reached 30,229 students, parents/carers, and educators, with a powerful impact of 7,786 in term 4 alone. Our overall total impact has now touched over 60,000 people!

A big thank you to everyone who supported us on this journey! 🙌 We are so excited for what’s in store for 2024 as we continue to empower Australians with consent and respectful relationship education.

Stay tuned for some big plans next year! 😊✨

Representing Consent Labs yesterday, our fabulous CEO .wan , actively participated in the NSW Government’s Think Safe to Drink Safe Campaign review and focus group! It was an afternoon filled with meaningful connections, informed discussions, and a shared commitment to reshaping the campaign with a strong emphasis on safety and a victim-centric approach.

Angie’s insights and the collaborative spirit of advocates, stakeholders, and government officials made for a truly enriching afternoon. It was fantastic to be able to contribute our expertise to help make real change!

Stay tuned for the positive changes ahead as we work together to create a safer environment.

Liquor & Gaming NSW

*HOW THE MEDIA REPORTS ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE*

Are you a journalist writing about the incident of non-consensual kissing that Rubiales perpetrated against Jenni Hermoso?

Make sure you stop and think about the words you choose.

Thanks to who have developed advice for this very situation, which applies more broadly outside of a sporting context as well.

Photo credits:
.aunz

*THE NON-CONSENSUAL KISS*

Recently, after Spain's historic win at the Women's World Cup, Luis Rubiales, the Spanish football federation president, kissed player Jenni Hermoso without her consent at the official post-match ceremony.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has empowered women everywhere. Yet in such a context someone in a position of power has used that power to dismiss, disrespect and undermine that achievement.

Without conversation or education, this moment has the potential to be seen as acceptable behaviour, particularly for young people.

In situations such as this it is vital to listen to and believe the victim.

Photo Credits:




Consent isn't a once-off contract, which means that you can revoke your consent at any time, for any reason (including no reason at all). You might be bored; not into it any more; have another need to attend to like going to the bathroom, sleeping, eating or drinking; or any other reason. Just because the other person/s want to continue, it doesn't mean you ever need to. So how do you revoke your consent?
🗣 Say it directly, which will always be the best way forward because it makes it clear that you're not consenting anymore. e.g. "I'm actually not feeling like continuing, let's stop"
🗣 Give an excuse, whether real or not. e.g. "omg I left the garage door open, I have to go close it"
🗣 Change the focus of attention. e.g. "I love this song/part of the tv show/movie" or "let's grab something to eat"
👩‍🎨: .design

It’s been a busy start to Term 3 for the Consent Labs team 🥳 We’ve been delivering programs to high schools and universities across NSW, ACT and VIC!

From conversations around Positive Masculinity at Randwick Boys High School, to discussions on recognising s*xual violence with Mount Stromlo High School, and tailored student leader workshops for university residential leaders, our team is on a roll and ready for the rest of this Term 🕺🏽

Our CEO, Angie, and our Head of Legal Research, Julia, presented to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Hearing in Canberra today, alongside of and .

Currently, the s*xual consent laws are different across Australia. The Committee is considering whether we should harmonise these laws and among other things, how this impacts consent education.

We supported the proposal highlighting the following:

- Sexual violence is a national issue, and requires a national approach. Harmonisation creates an opportunity to implement best practice across Australia, whereby all young people receive equal protection under the law.
- This proposal, however, does not offer a silver bullet. Affecting social change will require the Government to support the implementation of consistent, wholistic and national comprehensive consent and s*xuality education. This can be achieved through resourcing education providers to upskill teachers, parents, families to support our young people.

There will be two more days of hearings, and we look forward to seeing what comes out of these.

Stonewalling (or the silent treatment) can have a detrimental effect on any relationship
Stonewalling is not asking for space or setting healthy boundaries
- Stonewalling shuts down open communication and creates uncertainty
- Asking for space or setting healthy boundaries requires clear communication, compassion, and trust

Before we even put a word to it, our body may already be telling us that we feel uncomfortable. Trust these feelings and if you want to say no, you can.

👩‍🎨: .design

Consent and pleasure have a mutual relationship, but are not dependent on one another. They are each multifaceted topics that lie within our bodily domains of physical, emotional, spiritual.
👩‍🎨:

We don’t often talk about gloves as a barrier method to help have safer s*x, but there’s a lot of perks. Read this post to learn:
- Why to use them
- When to use them
- What to consider if you use them

There is no “normal” amount of time that s*x should take.
👉 ’Sex’ can be defined in
many different ways and so doesn’t have an agreed to ‘beginning’ or ‘end’ point
👉 The time that s*x takes depends on many intrinsic (inner) and extrinsic (environmental) factors.

👩‍🎨: .design

The Consent Labs facilitators recently got together for a biiig day of training.

Led by our Non-Executive Director Barry, we built upon key facilitation skills: observing the group dynamic, influencing skills and trust building, leveraging the physical environment and the art of preparation. Barry drew upon his years of facilitation, development and coaching experience, and his educational background in Organisational Psychology to upskill our team.

At Consent Labs, we continuously invest in our team’s professional development to ensure that we consistently deliver quality education.
Interested in having our dynamic team come and work with you or your students? Send us an email at [email protected]

Our Growth Manager Jamie and CEO Angie attended the Relationships and Sexuality in Schools Conference last week.

It was an amazing two days, bringing together educators from across Australia with an incredible line up of expert speakers and external education providers. We heard about best practice in comprehensive relationships and s*xuality education, the role and impact of social media, the importance of language around gender and s*xuality and new programs engaging boys and young men. Excitingly, we also heard from the inspiration and ever-articulate .

For us, it was so rewarding to connect with educators who understand the importance and value of this education.

It was also incredible to be able to reconnect with the community of experts, academics, researchers and educators in this sector, that we work alongside and owe so much to.

What an amazing week spent celebrating strong and powerful women. Our CEO Angie and Head of People and Programs Fran we’re lucky enough to attend the 2023 NSW Woman of the Year Awards this morning.

Angie passed the baton over to the fabulous , who won the award for NSW Young Woman of the Year for 2023. Congratulations to .pellegrini who was a finalist in the same category!

Happy International Women’s Day!

Consent Labs is privileged to be lead by three powerful and dedicated young women - Julia, Joyce and Angie. 💫 Our team is built up of many more inspiring women, and men as allies, all working hard to change Australia’s culture around consent.

Ever thought about attraction as more than just romantic or emotional? We experience attraction in 5 different ways: emotional, romantic, physical, s*xual and aesthetic.

There are many unrealistic relationship expectations out there - here we debunk three!
👩‍🎨:

Consent is an enthusiastic yes - not a yes given reluctantly. Hear any of these?

1) Check in, “Are you sure you want to?”

2) Give the get out “it’s totally ok if it’s a no”

3) If you’re still not sure, assume it’s a no anyway, “it’s ok, we won’t”

Safer s*x may include condoms and dental dams - physical barrier methods that can help prevent against s*xually transmitted infections.
How do you talk about them with your partner?
1. Set and reassert your boundaries as needed
2. Be flirty if you want to
3. Explain why you want to use them if you want to
👩‍🎨: .design

Consent is not a once off check in to get a yes or no, it is an ongoing process.
💙 Check in, e.g. “how does this feel for you?”
💙 If you’re starting something different, you need consent. For example, if you go from kissing to oral s*x, ask for consent, like “can I go down on you?”
👩‍🎨: .design

Hearing someone say no can hurt, but it must be respected. It is everyone’s right to say no, and everyone’s responsibility to respond appropriately when they get told no.
👩‍🎨:

What a feeling 🌟 Another year wrapped with 19,000 students, parents & teachers reached! ⁣
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Thank you to all who have supported us this year & we can’t wait to empower more Australians with consent knowledge in 2023. ⁣
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Catch you soon for some big plans next year! 😊

Saying no is a fundamental part of sticking up for our rights and boundaries.
Be honest with yourself, if you don’t want to - that’s okay!
Practice out loud, in the car, in bed at night or in the shower.
Take out some of the niceties - you don’t need to apologise for communicating how you feel.

👩‍🎨:

What a way to finish off Term 3! 😍 Have a little swipe to check out what we’ve been doing. Interested in us coming to your school or uni? Email us at [email protected] for more info or head to our website. 👩‍🎨: .design

It’s time to classify consent. DM us for a shareable copy of this poster to put around your school, uni, workplace, sporting club, home, you name it.

Let’s work together to spread the word.

It’s time to classify consent. DM us for a shareable copy of this poster to put around your school, uni, workplace, home, sporting club, you name it.

Let’s work together to spread the word.

We are so honoured that our Co-Founders and .wan were awarded the winners of the Community & Advocacy Category at the 40 UNDER 40: MOST INFLUENTIAL ASIAN-AUSTRALIAN AWARDS on Tuesday!

It was such a privilege to be amongst incredible and inspiring Asian-Australian pioneers and advocates including but not limited to .
Big congratulations to our overall winner !! 👏🔥

Angie and Joyce were represented by our incredible Head of People and Programs Fran and our fabulous mentor and Board member Christina who were there to accept the award!

How would you define this kiss? Sign our petition for a new classification to call out 'lack of consent' (link in bio).