With the passing of the Yes Means Yes law defining the ethics of sexual consent, the gray area between what is and is not consent has faded to black.
As an initiative to discuss the law in detail in accordance to the school and its policies, the Women’s Gender and Equity Center held an interactive dialogue and panel Thursday titled “Let’s Talk Consent.”
Held in the University Student Union Ballrooms, attendees were comprised of some students attending for class credit, some for their own interest and some faculty. The night opened with a light reception promptly at 6 p.m., which then turned into a series of scenario discussions between the audience and ended with a brief dialogue between panelists that represented survivors of the assault and the school.
The event began with a game that paralleled what giving consent was. Signing in upon arrival, participants were given a mint that they were instructed to not eat during the first 20 minutes of the event. The crowd was then encouraged to mingle and be aware during the activity that they may be asked for their mint and it is their right to say yes or no.
From this point it became clear that the mint represented one’s body and giving the mint away or not represented their sexual consent.
When the exercise finished, the facilitator of the panel, Dr. Jonathan Higgins, the assistant director of Multicultural Affairs, polled the general feelings of the audience in regards to how the exercise made them feel.
As a murmur rose among the crowd, many of the members said they felt uncomfortable giving their mints away as some were aggressively asked to do so throughout the exercise.
“It’s interesting how people are demanding for the mints. The exercise shows how demanding people can be for our consent,” said Kiana Wilkins, a junior sociology major who was among a group of people who were consistently approached for their mints during the beginning of the event.
The night then segued from the ice-breaker into a series of scenarios that involved the audience voting on what measures to take in case they are in a situation that involves them or their friend and consent.
According to the Yes Means Yes law, consent can only be given when both parties involved are conscious of their activity and provide ongoing consent throughout it. Consent can be revoked at any time and if one is under the influence of any drugs or alcohol then they legally cannot give consent.
“This makes us think about how to handle a situation of being confronted without giving our consent,” senior Japanese major Robert Franklin said, as the crowd completed a scenario regarding being touched inappropriately by an acquaintance.
After each scenario was presented and answers were chosen among the table groups, the crowd was invited to openly discuss why their group had chosen a particular answer. Throughout the night there were several occasions where members of the audience voiced their opinions about the scenarios, which eventually led to disagreements being made about solutions to some of the situations.
In addition to audience participation, there was a group of panelists who provided commentary on some of the scenarios and answered questions from the facilitator.
Among the group of panelists was current Miss California Erica Abke, who shared her story of being a survivor of domestic violence.
“I try to go to every event in Long Beach that supports this cause of violence or harassment and abuse in general,” Abke said. “I know that the students will benefit from an event like this…It is so important that we can speak on this topic and have an open discussion about how we feel and how others feel [about consent].”
As the event neared its end, the panelists reminded the audience that consent is important and anything non-consensual is considered sexual assault. Dr. Linda Pena, the Violence Prevention and Sexual Assault counselor on campus informed students of the resources that school has for survivors of sexual assault.
“It was great hearing how consent extends not just from sexual consent, but all kinds of consent from being around someone or touching someone, and it felt great to be validated that it’s okay to tell someone not to be around me or not to touch me and that it’s my right to say no,” junior communication studies Allison Meyer said.