Illustration of a couple on a street in Paris.
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Pixabay
For two weeks, testimonies from students of Institutes of Political Studies have been flocking to Twitter to denounce the rapes and sexual assaults that have occurred in their schools.
Ella Hamonic, co-founder of the Sex & Consent association, explains to
20 Minutes
the fieldwork she does with students.
Its goal: to make them aware of the concept of consent.
For several weeks, the prestigious Institutes of Political Studies (IEP) have been affected by a wave of testimonies from students reporting sexual violence, via the hashtag #sciencesporcs on Twitter.
And some higher education establishments are accused of not sufficiently protecting students who are victims of gender-based and sexual violence.
However, initiatives exist to do prevention.
This is the mission set by the Sex & Consent association, which has forged a partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education and carried out awareness-raising actions on the concept of sexual consent in universities and grandes écoles.
For
20 Minutes
, its co-founder, Ella Hamonic, explains how this fieldwork is essential to change mentalities.
Were you surprised by the extent of recent revelations of sexual violence experienced by students?
No, because we founded the Sex & Consent association in 2019 because we were aware of the scourge.
Moreover, according to a report by the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE) published in 2020, 63% of women say they have suffered or witnessed gender-based or sexual violence on their campus.
It is urgent that universities and grandes écoles change their culture when it comes to sexuality.
And for us, one of the most effective ways to act is through better consent education, as soon as students arrive on their campus.
Because the first three months of their student life is a red zone, due to integration seminars and evenings that are not necessarily well supervised.
How do you explain that this notion of consent is still so poorly understood?
Currently, explicit consent is not yet sufficiently present in the collective imagination of sexuality, nor is it represented in films.
Some believe that if a person has not expressed their refusal to have sex orally, it is because they agree.
Or that if she accepts a home invitation, it is because she wants to go further.
Everyone must be taught to ask for explicit consent by asking simple questions: "Do you want to have sex?
"," Can I continue?
"Or" what do you want with me?
".
And dispel the idea of a gray area in matters of sexuality.
It is urgent that the public authorities launch a national communication campaign on the concept of consent and that it be spoken of at the end of primary school.
What do your interventions consist of?
They are varied: we have carried out about thirty and reached more than 3,000 students at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, Nanterre, Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Paris VIII ... We distribute condoms in establishments with messages on consent such as that: "Have you asked before?
"," Without yes, it's no "," To play with two people, you have to say yes "... This is the opportunity to open a dialogue with the students.
Another action: 2-hour workshops around consent and the notion of active witness likely to intervene in the event of behavior that could degenerate into sexual assault.
This is an opportunity to think about how to ask the other explicitly for their consent, without breaking the mood.
Art is also a way of raising awareness, hence the writing workshops through which participants are invited to tell an episode of their life during which they could not say no or they had the impression of overriding the desire of the other.
Our physical exercise workshops also allow you to learn to recognize non-verbal gestures of bodily rejection.
Each of our interventions is an opportunity to give back the numbers of cells responsible for dealing with situations of sexual harassment or sexist behavior.
But generally, it is students who are already aware of this who participate in this type of initiative.
How to reach those who have deviant behaviors and who are in denial?
When we approach students by handing out condoms, some do not seem receptive to what they are told.
And 70% of our workshop participants are women.
But we believe that the more students hear about consent, the more they will get the message.
The ideal would be to oblige all students and teachers to follow a sexual violence prevention module, as is the case in some countries.
Universities must also be given the means to finance more awareness-raising actions.
Society
#SciencesPorcs: "The large schools absolutely do not want to put the subject of sexual violence under the carpet"
Society
The hashtag #Sciencesporcs denounces rape and sexual assault in the Institutes of Political Studies
Student
Violence against women
Society
University
Higher Education