Welcome to the _____≠ Consent Campaign hosted at the University of Utah! Thank you for showing curiosity in this poster/blog campaign that is intended to teach you about ways in which consent is regularly violated in romantic and sexual relationships.
This project emerged in response to how consent has become a buzzword, often quickly grabbing attention and signaling a discussion on sexual assault. Whether it be on social media or through mandatory college or work training, most everyone has learned about consent in the sense that you should always hear a “yes” before you initiate sex, but is that really it? Often, this overreliance on affirmative consent misses the complexity of how we interact with each other in romantic and sexual contexts. There are often factors that are overlooked when considering consent, from the misinterpretation of flirting as consent, to the ways that being in a committed relationship can lead to harm through expectations of intimacy.
Imagine a time in which you have been working on a puzzle, whether that be when you were a child or recently as a hobby. The last couple of pieces of a puzzle are the most important ones, right? The ones that complete the image. Now imagine that those pieces just don’t fit into the space. No matter how many times you rotate the pieces and move them around, you can’t quite fit the pieces together even though they look like a match. This process is similar to the complexities of consent. There will be times where you have done everything “right”. You followed the consent scripts, you received a “yes” from your partner, you want to have sex, but there is still something that doesn’t click at the moment– the puzzle pieces don’t align. Consent is a complex topic, it is not something that can be forced together, and overlooking this aspect of it can cause harm to those around you.
Although there is plenty of research exploring the necessity of affirmative consent, the nuances that surround consent are often overlooked, especially regarding context.
Linked below are the 7 blog posts that are associated with each of the posters from the “____≠ Consent” Campaign that explore these nuances:
