Why consent belongs in the classroom

As a young woman and high school student educator, I stood before high school students in Washtenaw County during a sex education presentation, to ask a seemingly simple question: “What does consent mean?” I saw a few students exchanging glances, casting blank stares at the question in big bold letters on the projection screen. Most didn’t answer — the discomfort in the room was palpable. Everyone knew the word, but no one was comfortable speaking about it. Specifically for many young women in the room, silence was learned.

Conversations around sex have long reflected the perspectives of dominant identities , while sidelining the voices of the marginalized: women. Messages embedded in purity culture have expected women, in contrast to men, to be modest and “sexually pure.” This actively