Last week, the proposition to introduce mandatory sexual consent workshops for all incoming students to Trinity Hall in September 2016 was passed almost unanimously at Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) council. The motion was put forward by Citizenship Officer and TCDSU President candidate Kieran McNulty. Trinity Hall is the pilot study for the programme, with online workshops to rollout across campus for all students the following year. The introduction of sexual consent workshops is something that has been talked about a lot in recent years. It comes following rape allegations made early last year in Trinity Hall and revelations in the TCDSU survey of sexual experiences among students. Reception of this motion has been for the most part positive. However, there are those in disagreement of the introduction of mandatory workshops.
A survey conducted by TCDSU last year found that over 25 per cent of women have had a non-consensual experience, while just under five per cent of men have experienced the same. Naturally, this would indicate a need for action to initiate conversation surrounding the issue of consent and what exactly it is. The mandatory sexual consent workshops aim to do exactly this. This is the first move of its kind in Ireland and is set to model itself on the Oxbridge framework.
The mandated sexual consent workshops will be enforced to increase student awareness on the issue of sexual consent and also what they can do if they or someone they know has been sexually assaulted.
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This motion quickly caught the attention of the public, with one man writing to the Irish Times calling the introduction of compulsory sexual consent workshops “a new low” for Irish society. Those in disagreement with the programme argue that the mere existence of these workshops treats all students as potential sex offenders. This is simply not the case. The mandated sexual consent workshops will be enforced to increase student awareness on the issue of sexual consent. It will also cover what they can do if they or someone they know has been sexually assaulted.
The importance of launching these workshops in Trinity Hall is that it is Trinity’s largest off-campus residency, housing 1,000 students. That’s almost 1,000 first-year students, many of which have never lived away from home before, all living together. Many of these students are arriving from single-sex denominational schools and are thrown into a binge-drinking student culture. Obviously, this newfound freedom brings with it its own problems. Rates of rape, sexual assault and non-consensual sexual experiences are similar internationally.
American and British universities encounter the same problems. Recently, a male student at the University of Oxford recounted his experience of a sexual consent workshop. He reflected positively on the experience. He noted the complexity of the situation, highlighting that a strict definition of consent does not exist, but rather it is a complex concept that requires understanding and contextualisation. The necessity of these sexual consent programmes is evident from recent outcries of female students. Maria Marcello (pseudonym), a student at the University of Oxford, spoke out about the lack of support she experienced after she was raped. And at Columbia University, Emma Sulkowicz carried her mattress from class to class, hoping that it would induce her rapist to admit what he did and leave university. Cases such as these highlight the need for sexual consent programmes.
Students are free to leave the workshops at any time without explanation and Trinity hopes to follow this model.
To deal with this growing problem, the universities of Cambridge and Oxford introduced sexual consent workshops across all of their campuses two years ago. The workshops are promoted as “mandatory”. However, nobody is forced to go. Students are free to leave the workshops at any time without explanation and Trinity hopes to follow this model.
This concept of “mandatory”, though with the option to opt out if you feel the need, is something that many in the media and within the university community have failed to understand. Fionola Meredith of the Irish Times wrote that “neo-puritan preaching won’t stop rape”, suggesting that Trinity is simplifying a complex problem in an effort to totally eliminate rape. This is not the case. We are not so naïve as to think that a series of sexual consent workshops will deter all potential sex offenders. However, we are hopeful that starting the conversation around sexual consent will help to educate people and be the first step in combatting rape. We have to start somewhere.
Other critics of the workshops claim that they act as a punishment for men, viewing the workshops as “compulsory lessons on how not to be rapist”. There are no grounds for this opinion. The workshops will be mandatory for all genders and all sexualities. Just as the statistics acknowledge the incidence of non-consensual experiences among both men and women, the workshops will also acknowledge that perpetrators can be both men and women. The important thing is that we define what consent is, not just for our young people, but for everyone. In doing so we will create an active awareness of the issue and forge a community where all predatory behaviour is condemned.
