Changing the culture around consent across Australia – Consent Labs (UTS Startups)
About my work
The idea for Consent Labs was born out of a conversation between myself and my friend Joyce, when we were 19 and in the second year of our university degree. We both lived on campus at different Sydney-based universities and whilst we loved the freedom it afforded us, it was also incredibly eye-opening.
From something as 'small' as a catcall on the street, to being groped at a house party by someone you didn’t know, to feeling like you owed someone a sexual act if they bought you a drink, sexual harassment was pervasive. Unfortunately, I didn’t know at that time that it was called sexual harassment, or that it was illegal. All I knew was that these behaviours were normal. A normal part of socialising, of being a woman in the world. They didn’t make me feel great about myself, but they were normal.
The answer – an absence of consent education.Joyce and I were having a conversation about this in her university dorm room, and discussing how more than one of our mutual friends had come to the realisation that they had been sexually assaulted a number of years after the incident. We asked ourselves why? Why is it that this was something that a number of our peers were grappling with, but none of us felt equipped to handle?
That’s when Joyce and I knew that we had to do something. Young people deserved better.
A memorable win
Since 2016, Joyce and I have worked to create the consent education program that we wish we had received in high school. Consent education that is:
- Realistic, having been designed, developed and delivered by young people themselves
- Proactive, recognising that education has the power to be protective
- Intersectional, acknowledging the diversity of the Australian population.
And so Consent Labs was born, a female-founded and youth-led not-for-profit. We now work with young people in the high school and tertiary education space, as well as the parents and educators of young people to ensure holistic change. In 2021, we reached 10,000 students across Australia and made a tangible impact, with 89% of students walking away with a practical takeaway.
Consent Labs is a female-founded and youth-led not-for-profit that empowers the community with consent education. Bringing personal experiences from various universities and residential colleges, the organisation was born out of a recognised need for greater awareness of consent, sexual harassment and assault.
Consent Labs provides proactive, evidence-based and inclusive educational programs to young people in high schools and in tertiary institutions, and works with the parents and educators of young people to ensure holistic change. In 2021, we reached 10,000 students across Australia and made a tangible impact, with 89% of students walking away with a practical takeaway.