The original version of the photo caption accompanying this article contained information that was inaccurate and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for more information.
Angelica Castillo wrote “consent is trust” in the shape of a heart toward the side of a massive sheet of butcher paper. Several other notes reflected her idea: “consent is respect,” “consent is love,” “consent feels good” and “consent feels like coming home.”
Some were affirmations of personal strength, others were illustrations of approving smiley faces or people connected by lines drawn between their corresponding facial features – eyes to eyes and lips to lips.
The colorful messages scattered across the paper on the floor of the Kerckhoff Art Gallery tried to define what students thought consensual sexual activity looked and felt like as part of Consent Week, a weeklong event to advocate against sexual assault and educate students about consent.
“If you feel forced or pressured into any sexual relationship or otherwise, it’s not consent. It’s force,” said Castillo, a fourth-year sociology student who attended the event.
Different days of Consent Week focused on the intersection of sexual assault with different communities.
Tuesday’s event was co-programmed by 7000 in Solidarity, a campaign against sexual assault housed in the Undergraduate Students Association Council Student Wellness Commission, and Chai Talks, which regularly hosts South Asian student presentations about current issues in the community.
The poster of consent definitions was created between speeches about sexual assault in South Asian communities and discussions about sexual assault in communities of color.
Chrissy Keenan, co-director of the Bruin Consent Coalition for 7000 in Solidarity, said she did not have any consent education growing up. She said her parents’ traditionalist upbringing barred her access to a sexual education and prevented her from understanding consent and the components of a healthy relationship.
Keenan, a third-year human biology student, is also a survivor of sexual assault – a topic that she said was taboo in her household.
The first time Keenan talked to her parents about her sexual assault was the first time she talked to them about sex.
The experience was difficult for her not only because she came out to them as a survivor of sexual assault at 16 years old, but also because she needed to use sexual language with them for the first time, she said.
“I had to tell them (my boyfriend) forced me to perform oral sex using words I’d never used before,” she said.
She added that she thinks individuals aren’t really taught to communicate about healthy relationships, which is partly why she became involved in the 7000 in Solidarity campaign and helped organize Consent Week.
The fundamental principle of the 7000 in Solidarity campaign against sexual assault is a comprehensive consent education, said Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich.
Castillo said she thinks not all sexual abuse is physical.
There are multiple ways to have a nonphysical sexual relationship, she said: both emotionally and verbally. She said she thinks feeling pressured in either situation may elicit trauma and constitute abuse.
Castillo added that she thinks if someone doesn’t feel safe rejecting another person’s sexual advances, then it is a non-consensual situation.
“We live in a very rape-approving culture that doesn’t give women the platform to say ‘no,’” Castillo said.
Badalich said she thinks sexual assault prevention usually consists of telling people to avoid situations in which they might be sexually assaulted.
She added that she also thinks educating students about consent in college is “late in the game,” because it can’t retroactively prevent non-consensual sex.
Badalich said Consent Week seeks to empower students by offering them information that is both positive and applicable to different communities.
Consent Week will end Friday with an open forum on sexual violence. The campaign 7000 in Solidarity has invited students from UCLA, Occidental College and USC to talk about legislation they want to present to California lawmakers, Badalich said.
Possible proposals include demands for K-12 consent education and more funding for mental health services, Keenan said.
Clarification: Students also shared personal narratives in addition to spoken word performances.