Friday, April 19Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Consent

Opinion

Let’s Reconsider Consent

The 'I Heart Consent' campaign was a good idea but it was run in a way that I can only describe as dreadful. It was a campaign directed at the male community, yet for the most part it failed to engage men; it was a campaign interested in excluding men, or at least that’s the impression given. This campaign should have separated itself from the nasty face of feminism, which would have resulted in less time preaching that women are fundamentally different to men (which of course is false) and it would have turned attention to the real cause - consent! Men are placed in uncomfortable positions more often than is apparent and it would only be false to claim that only men go out ‘on the pull’; I for one have witnessed many girls with the intention to ‘pull’. This is of course a two way stree...
Opinion

It’s Time to Consent

Watching Frozen for the millionth time, I’m still surprised that Kristoff asks Anna whether he may kiss her. Expecting the hero to seize a victory smooch, I realised we’ve long forgone consent because we’re not used to seeing or asking for it. Here was a Disney film portraying consent for a kiss, when 55 years ago the kiss in Sleeping Beauty was metaphor to obscure the character’s rape. Our popular culture, which so heavily socialises us, has brushed over the need for consent. We’re all given Sex Ed. at primary school, and talking about sex becomes as ordinary as a DFS sofa sale. So it’s disappointing that university students find drunken hook-ups less awkward than talking about consent. It’s defined as “agreeing by choice and having the freedom and capacity to make that choice.” ...