Consent Explained: What Is It? (Asia Region)
This video defines sexual consent and clarifies that just because someone agrees to one kind of behavior, it doesn’t mean they want to engage in another. Everyone has the right to change their mind anytime, so you must always stop and respect the person’s wishes. It also clarifies that just because someone doesn’t say no, doesn’t mean they have given consent and that the use of drugs and alcohol means the person cannot give consent. The video also defines sexual assault and rape and emphasizes that if that is something you experienced, it’s never your fault, and you should consider talking to a trusted adult.
Youth
This video discussion guide is one of a set of six discussion guides available for peer educators to use to educate young and middle adolescents about sexual and reproductive health in the Asia Pacific Region.
The discussion guides each incorporate an AMAZE educational video that addresses a topic and can be used to supplement existing lesson plans or resources that you may already be using to provide sexual and reproductive health information to young people. Each video discussion guide consists of an introduction to the topic of the video, a screening of the video, discussion and reflection questions, and an optional activity and/or quiz.
Discussion and Reflection
- What was it like to watch this video? What is your initial reaction?
- What are some of the examples of consent that you noticed in the video?
- Why is consent important? What can a person do to ensure they get consent from others?
- What can a person do if they change their mind in the middle of doing something that they may have initially agreed to do
- What are your key takeaways from this video and discussion?
- Respect participants’ opinions
- Practice active listening
- Use inclusive and gender-neutral terms
- Give everyone a chance to answer share
- Remind participants to be respectful of others and practice active listening
- This discussion may trigger trauma in participants who are currently or have previously experienced sexual assault or rape. Before conducting the session, be sure to ask your organization that you’re currently working with regarding policies for reporting any disclosure about sexual assault.
- Be sure to let them know they can talk to you after the session and be prepared to provide referrals to a counselor or health services as needed.
- Be prepared to respond to participants who may begin to disclose personal experiences during the discussion or point out perceived perpetrators by acknowledging what they’ve shared and letting them know where they can seek support, including a trusted adult.
- Be attentive to participants’ special needs. Some participants may need special arrangements to engage in discussions or activities. For instance, you can adjust the physical space to accommodate participants with limited mobility or modify the activity to require less movement.
Role Play Activity
This activity provides an interactive way for participants to further reflect on the information shared in the video.
Explain to participants that next, they will be doing a Role Play. Put the participants in pairs and distribute one of three scenarios to each pair, such that scenarios are more or less evenly distributed across the pairs. Encourage participants to improvise their conversation based on each scenario. If doing the activity virtually, put pairs into breakout rooms for the role-play part, similarly assigning one scenario to each.
Give each group five minutes, then read out the first scenario and ask for volunteers who did the role play to share their overall thoughts including what it was like to give or receive consent. Repeat this process for the second and third role plays. Lastly, ask participants to share overall key takeaways from this activity.
Note: The scenarios can be adapted to reflect different sexual orientations, and language can be adjusted to be gender-neutral by using the pronoun “they” instead of “her” or “him” and using gender-neutral names.
Summary
Here are three key steps to help ask for consent.
- Ask (for what you would like the other person to consent to do).
- Listen (for “yes” or “no” and notice body language too).
- Respect the person’s response, whether they consent or not.
Conclude the session by sharing the key summary points below:
Seeking and giving consent is important to respect each other’s boundaries and create a healthy relationship. We have the right to change our minds about what we are going to do or do not want to do at any time. If you say ‘no’ or don’t want to consent, it can be spoken out at any time. For instance, ‘yes’ at the beginning of a sexual relationship doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ to the whole process, and your partner must respect your decision to have a healthy relationship.
We should also remember that just because someone doesn’t say “no” doesn’t mean consent has been given. Consent must be given willingly. If a person is forced or threatened to consent to any behavior, that’s not consent.
Consent cannot be given by individuals who are underage, intoxicated or incapacitated by drugs or alcohol, or asleep or unconscious. If someone agrees to an activity under pressure of intimidation or threat, that isn’t considered consent because it was not given freely. A person must be at a certain age to be able to legally give consent. This age is called the “age of consent,” and age of consent laws vary from country to country. Remember that a person who has been sexually assaulted is never at fault and should tell a trusted adult if they have been assaulted.