Proposal to make colleges obliged to provide consent classes

cannotlogin

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Many rape cases hinge on the alleged rapist saying "I thought she consented".

Yes and I'm fairly certain this is the first line of defense for every rapist. It has to be if they have any chance of not being convicted. Plead it was consentual, thereby creating an element of doubt.

My point is I don't think a lack of understanding of the meaning of consent, results in many accidental rapists. I think most rapists are well aware of what rape is.

pleas advice

Calhoun wrote: »

Or that of certain feminist bloggers who all but name a guy they slept with in University as a rapist because they didn't feel like saying no to the guy at the time.

.

She could have handled it better if she had attended a few consent classes

cannotlogin

cannotlogin wrote: »

Does anyone actually think consent classes will prevent rapes?

Maybe I'm being over simplistic but I'm fair certain most people know what rape is, understand what consent is and know when to walk away from a situation when there is a chance of consent not being clear i.e. person is drunk etc.

I don't think the small minority if people who really need to change their behaviour, will learn anything from a consent class. There are very few accidental rapists - they know what they are doing.

I don't think Ted Bundy or Larry murphy and their sort would've changed if they had consent classes now

TheChizler

Jesus, can not for once have a grown up conversation on taking about consent that doesn't resort back to "they need to stop calling all men rapists" or "the need to teach women not to get drunk and wear clothes that makes them more likely to get raped" or complaining about feminists or idiotic blogs. What's the need to bring these irrelevant things into it?

The only people mentioning these extreme positions or people are the people giving out about these extreme positions or people, this is not what is being proposed, it basically only exists in your heads.

Consent is a very simple thing that is commonly misunderstood by regular people like you and me, taking about it won't stop the bogey-man rapists or people intent on going out of their way to cause harm, but it might cause the regular person to consider their actions and question whether what they're doing is ok. It's not black or white, 0 or 100%. It won't fix the problem entirely but might help, at very little cost.

RollieFingers

Not against the idea, but surely it should be done in secondary school rather than third level? If you're a creep by the time you're in college there's probably not a lot that can be done to change that. Also if I was in college and they made the class mandatory I wouldn't go, so maybe it should be optional attendance.

givyjoe

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Do you have any evidence that this is common?

I've certainly never had sex and then been confused about whether it was consensual the following day.

Have a Google of rosemary McCabe. She literally penned an article doing exactly this. Except it wasn't the next day, it was years later.

TheChizler

givyjoe wrote: »

Have a Google of rosemary McCabe. She literally penned an article doing exactly this. Except it wasn't the next day, it was years later.

I don't think we should base anything we do in society on what RMC says, pro or against, extremes don't help anyone.

givyjoe

TheChizler wrote: »

I don't think we should base anything we do in society on what RMC says, pro or against, extremes don't help anyone.

I'm not, the poster is pretending that this doesn't happen, but do you actually think it's a one off?

TheChizler

givyjoe wrote: »

I'm not, the poster is pretending that this doesn't happen, but do you actually think it's a one off?

I don't think these extreme examples are representative of the people at the core of the proposals. Unfortunately they tend to be just as loud or louder.

givyjoe

TheChizler wrote: »

I don't think these extreme examples are representative of the people at the core of the proposals. Unfortunately they tend to be just as loud or louder.

You mean people who don't know how to correctly interpret what consent means? I'd have thought RMC and dozens of people supporting her bonkers assertions at the time would very much be included in the target of consent classes. Not sure how you're making out that type of thought is 'extreme'

TheChizler

givyjoe wrote: »

You mean people who don't know how to correctly interpret what consent means? I'd have thought RMC and dozens of people supporting her bonkers assertions at the time would very much be included in the target of consent classes. Not sure how you're making out that type of thought is 'extreme'

I don't think it represents the people who'd be supportive of this, maybe irrelevant would be a better word.

I think someone in a similar situation as in that story could have benefited from sort of consent classes actually, as it might have given them to tools to deal with the situation then and there rather than letting it fester and come out in public in a very questionable way.

meeeeh

TheChizler wrote: »

Consent is a very simple thing that is commonly misunderstood by regular people like you and me, taking about it won't stop the bogey-man rapists or people intent on going out of their way to cause harm, but it might cause the regular person to consider their actions and question whether what they're doing is ok. It's not black or white, 0 or 100%. It won't fix the problem entirely but might help, at very little cost.

Yeah it might stop someone who is at the core good person not to do something stupid when they are drunk.

Grayson

pleas advice wrote: »

She could have handled it better if she had attended a few consent classes

That's true to an extent. Sometimes people don't know how to say no so they end up being pressured into something they don't want to do.

A consent class shouldn't just involve how you go about gaining consent. It should also be about how to communicate consent.