The recent debacle of sex ed videos for year 10 – 12 students in Australia has prompted me to write this post.
The milkshake and taco videos trivialise and dumb down the complex issues of consent.
I recently completed a university course on consent called Yes Means Yes.
It is a comprehensive course on consent, and there is no reason why year 10 – 12 high school students couldn’t complete this course, which is interactive and has quizzes to test a student’s knowledge of consent. It should be compulsory.
In comparison the milkshake and taco videos do not impart meaningful nor nuanced conceptions of consent and don’t provide a comprehensive knowledge of consent. They’re unlikely to prevent instances of sexual indecency and disetiquette (neologism for lacking in etiquette) currently plaguing our sexual relations, as they are highly abstract and are far removed from real world circumstances. They are confusing and confounding. The seriousness of consent issues are downplayed and the videos are insulting to the intelligence of teenagers. Consent issues are far too important to leave to condescending sex ed videos which do not address the issues head on.
Henry Willoughby's Social Justice Blog 
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