Teach Us Consent is breaking ground with the launch of world-leading resources to teach consent to Australians aged 16-25 where they’re at–on social media.
The Promoting Consent Initiative (PCI), funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS) as part of The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 (National Plan), engages over 25 highly influential young Australians – from footy players, to comedians – to role model vulnerable and open conversations around consent, respectful relationships, media literacy and sexual harm prevention.
Influential people like Zahra Al Hilaly, Brodie Grundy, Brooke Blurton and Darcy Moore feature in the content.
Through a range of modern mediums designed to meet young people where they are, including podcasts, YouTube videos, essays, TikToks and Instagram posts, this initiative evolves consent education to genuinely meet the increasingly digital communication preferences of young people.
To maximise reach, Teach Us Consent has translated key materials into six different languages, including Torres Strait Creole, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, Pilipino and Simplified Chinese.
Teach Us Consent have developed specific resources for First Nations communities in collaboration with Aboriginal-led creative agency 33 Creative. The resources will be available through IndigiTube – an offline video consumption tool. To support accessibility, easy to read versions of a number of resources will be made available through Teach Us Consent’s website.
The Initiative’s resources have been created by young people, for young people through collaboration with an established Youth Advisory Group (YAG) comprising 15 diverse young people nationwide, from Queensland’s regional town of Yeppoon to metropolitan Melbourne. YAG members have been integral from the initiative’s inception, providing first-hand insight into preferred platforms, influential voices, and knowledge gaps among their peers. Their involvement extended beyond consultation to active participation – collaboratively defining 40 content topics, editing scripts, writing articles, and even appearing in the materials themselves.
The Teach Us Consent Expert Advisory Group, which includes global leaders in research pertaining to sexual assault, gender identity and healthy masculinities, reviewed and contributed to the initiative’s content. They were imperative in ensuring all materials are trauma-informed, evidence-based, and that resources are effective in changing attitudes and behaviours to reduce sexual violence.
This initiative is available to view at teachusconsent.com/resources and through Teach Us Consent’s social media channels:
Instagram: @teachusconsent
Facebook: Teach Us Consent
TikTok:@teachusconsent
YouTube:@teachusconsent
Comments
Chanel Contos, CEO & Founder of Teach Us Consent:
“The vast majority of sexual violence in Australia is preventable. These resources aim to stop sexual violence before it happens and do it with young people and the people they look up to. It’s a fresh approach to a long-standing problem.”
“This initiative is about meeting young people where they’re at. We’re talking with them, not at them, with the influential people they know and love, and we’re doing it all on the platforms they already use.”
“Emerging research tells us that boys and young men feel they don’t have many positive role models on social media. So, we’re amplifying the voices of some brilliant young people from across the country to bring them intothe conversation.”
“We’re modelling open, vulnerable, and imperfect conversations on our podcasts. The initiative platforms crucial conversations about consent with young men – not just about them.”
“I’m so proud of what we’ve created here. This could be the blueprint for how consent and respectful relationships education is taught across the rest of the world. The Australian Government took a leap of faith in funding this initiative. They recognised we had to do things differently to create real change.”
Professor Ben Mathews, Teach Us Consent Expert Advisor:
Bio: Ben Mathews is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology. For 25 years he has conducted multidisciplinary research into child maltreatment, with child sexual abuse a key area of research expertise. His research has influenced legal and systemic reforms in Australia and overseas to improve ways of preventing, identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. He is Lead Investigator of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study.
“The Promoting Consent Initiative created by Teach Us Consent is a landmark advance in promoting healthy sexual development and relationships for young Australians.”
“This impressive, evidence-based program has been carefully developed and designed with young people to meet their needs.”
“Navigating relationships is difficult for everyone, including young people. The PCI offers accessible content across multiple important areas, for teenagers and young adults, and in a range of languages.”
“It promises to enhance young people’s skills in developing respect for themselves and for others, understanding and navigating consent, and enabling enjoyable and equal relationships.”
Youth Advisory Group Member and host of Vodcast, Anthony Stefanos:
“At the best of times, conversations around consent and sexual violence can be scary to enter because you don’t want to say the wrong thing or seem uninformed. But when you have familiar faces like Darcy Moore or Outback Tom doing the talking in a casual, unscripted way, it feels like the content is realistic and accessible to me.”
“Being part of the YAG helped us create content we, and our mates, deserve to see.”
“The initiative gives us practical tools to answer those tricky questions so many of us have at this age–and that I wish I knew when I was younger. And the podcast models the respect and curiosity needed to actually have these important conversations with friends, family, partners and colleagues”
