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Right: Information alleyways: many surveys have found that the internet, specifically internet pornography, is where much of a child's sex 'education' comes from, either because of lack of formal school-based information, or because of parents' reluctance to give their offspring 'The Talk'.

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Arguments in favour of compulsory education in sexual consent

1. Sexual assault is a significant problem for Australian adolescents and children
Those who argue that consent education is vital for Australian adolescents and children point to the disproportionate representation of these groups among those who suffer sexual assault and abuse. They argue that both adolescents and children need a greater understanding of their right to bodily autonomy to help protect them from assault. They also argue that young potential perpetrators need an understanding of when they are assaulting another person.
It has been noted that young people in their late teens and early twenties are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and assault. This has been demonstrated through surveys of university students. The results of a National Survey released by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2016 revealed that university students are disproportionately likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted. The survey revealed that 51 percent of university students were sexually harassed at least once in 2016. 6.9 percent of university students were sexually assaulted at least once in 2015 or 2016. Most perpetrators of these recent incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment in a university setting were male, and in approximately half of these incidents, were known to the victim. Of students who were sexually assaulted in a university setting, 87 percent did not make a formal report or complaint to anyone at the university and 79 percent did not seek support or assistance from their university following the most recent incident. The report by the Australian Human Rights Commission noted that the results of the National Survey reflected existing research about the prevalence of sexual harassment in Australia more broadly, which indicates that women aged 18 to 24 experience higher rates of sexual harassment in the workplace than any other age group. https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/executive-summary-8#:~:text=Prevalence%20of%20sexual%20assault,-Overall%2C%20the%20prevalence&text=Overall%2C%206.9%25%20of%20students%20were,assaulted%20in%202015%20or%202016. A similar pattern of sexual assault experienced by young people has been found in the United States. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused or assaulted by age 18. Regarding perpetrators, nearly a quarter of those arrested for sex crimes-including forcible rapes, sodomies, assaults with objects, and forced fondling-were under 18, and the most common age was 14 years old. https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/executive-summary-8#:~:text=Prevalence%20of%20sexual%20assault,-Overall%2C%20the%20prevalence&text=Overall%2C%206.9%25%20of%20students%20were,assaulted%20in%202015%20or%202016.https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/were-teaching-consent-all-wrong/2019/01
It has further been noted that students in secondary schools faced similar instances of assault. A 2016 report by the Women and Equalities Committee of the United Kingdom's House of Commons revealed 'the shocking scale of sexual harassment and sexual violence' experienced by girls in schools in England. Evidence presented to the Committee included that almost one-third (29 percent) of 16 to 18-year-old girls experienced unwanted sexual touching at school and 59 percent of girls and young women aged 13-21 said in 2014 that they had faced some form of sexual harassment at school or college in the past year. Giving evidence to the Committee, Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project described sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools as 'a widespread, regular and common problem [and] something that the majority of girls are experiencing'. These findings related to girls and young women in English co-educational schools. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/ Recent work done among young women who had or were still attending single sex schools in Australia has revealed a similar problem. Chanel Contos, a former Australian private school student who is now a sexual reform advocate doing a master's degree in sex education, has had over 5,000 young women contact her with personal testimonies about sexual assaults they claim they suffered from young men who were then private school students. Ms Contos believes there is urgent need for improved sex education in schools, including more explicit and effective education about consent and the behaviours which indicate it has been given. She believes that neither male nor female students are sufficiently informed about this issue. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/15/do-they-even-know-they-did-this-to-us-why-i-launched-the-school-sexual-assault-petition It has been noted that young males, especially those on their mid to late teens are the most likely to commit sexual assault. According to the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey, 1 in 6 women have experienced at least one sexual assault since the age of 15 compared to 1 in 25 men. ABS data also shows that most recorded sexual assaults were perpetrated by males, with the highest offender rates occurring in males aged 15-19. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/15/do-they-even-know-they-did-this-to-us-why-i-launched-the-school-sexual-assault-petitionhttps://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/ Without proper consent education, Chanel Contos argues there may be some young men who do not realise that their actions are sexual assaults and many young women who do not know how to take action to protect themselves. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/15/do-they-even-know-they-did-this-to-us-why-i-launched-the-school-sexual-assault-petitionhttps://www.agsa.org.au/news/22609/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/15/do-they-even-know-they-did-this-to-us-why-i-launched-the-school-sexual-assault-petition
Finally, advocates for early consent education to be delivered within schools argue that children of all ages, including the very young, suffer sexual assault. Of the 25,500 women who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health in 2018, 13-16 percent reported experiencing sexual abuse as a child. According to the 2017 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey, 11 percent of women and 5 percent of men in Australia report having been sexually abused before the age of 15 years. In total, the ABS estimates that approximately 1,410,100 people living in Australia experienced sexual abuse before the age of 15. Greater than half of these respondents (58 percent) report being sexually abused for the first time before the age of 10 years. https://bravehearts.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/WIP_Facts-and-stats_updated-Oct-2019.pdf Statistics such as these have been used to justify consent education beginning as early as pre-school. Federal Liberal MP Dr Fiona Martin, who was a psychologist before entering Parliament, has argued such education would set up children for a life of healthy relationships and the ability to recognise coercive control and sexual abuse. https://bravehearts.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/WIP_Facts-and-stats_updated-Oct-2019.pdfhttps://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/embed-consent-education-in-school-curriculum-liberal-mp-urges-20210316-p57b4w.html

2. Sex education, including consent, is often difficult for families and is avoided
Those who argue that consent education should be compulsory in schools claim that parents cannot be relied upon to inform their children in this area. Many parents, it is alleged, do not give their children adequate information about sex, and do not discuss sexual consent with them. It is further argued that many parents avoid this material because it is difficult for them to address.
Advocates for compulsory consent education within schools argue that sex education is an area in which many parents and guardians do not adequately educate their children and therefore the deficiencies must be addressed within schools. A comparative 2020 United States data survey found that a significant proportion of adolescents around the world reported rarely or never discussing sex with their parents. It further noted that parents often fail to have timely discussions about sex, such that as many as 40 percent of adolescents were engaging in sexual behaviour before their parents had discussed sexuality and sexual health and relationships with them. Barriers such as embarrassment, inaccurate knowledge, low self-efficacy, religious and cultural beliefs opposed to comprehensive sex education, and parental underestimation of their child's sexual behaviour, appear to prevent many parents from communicating about these issues. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12978-020-00975-y Relatedly, Melissa Carnagey, a sexuality educator, and social worker, based in Austin, Texas, has presented a variety of motivations explaining why parents avoid giving their children adequate education about sex. Included among these is the belief that giving information about sexuality can be delayed until later in a child's life and that it is not a priority until a young person reaches or approaches puberty. Another reason why Carnagey believes that parents avoid giving their children sex education is awkwardness. She argues that many parents are inhibited by a lack of confidence in their own knowledge, by sexually related traumas from their own earlier lives and by the influence of religious beliefs. She also argues that parents are inhibited by the mistaken belief that if they discuss sexually related matters with their children, they will be encouraging them toward early sexual experimentation. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12978-020-00975-yhttps://sexpositivefamilies.com/8-reasons-parents-avoid-the-talks/ Supporters of sex education and consent education in schools argue that this reluctance on the part of parents necessitates schools taking on the role of sex educators.
It has been noted that some Australian parents from culturally diverse backgrounds feel particularly ill-equipped to educate their children about sex. In an article published by the ABC on March 18, 2021, a 55-year-old Melbourne mother from a traditional Chinese family revealed her sense of inadequacy when attempting to educate her daughter about sexual matters. She explains that her own parents rarely talked about sex, and she was not taught about consent. She states that she tried to educate herself by attending community workshops, consulting with mental health services, and reading parenting columns in both English and Chinese, so she could talk to her 17-year-old daughter about it. But she said none of those channels had what she was looking for. The article concludes, 'While many parents find sex an awkward topic, families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities say they are facing extra challenges.' Some of the parents interviewed urge that not only should schools inform students about consent, but there should also be programs to help parents from diverse backgrounds inform their children about this and other sex-related issues. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-18/migrant-parents-call-support-sex-education-consent-petition/100013554
It has further been noted that even those parents who give their children basic sex education avoid some of the more challenging areas. In January 2014, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Latino and Adolescent Family Health released a survey that revealed that while 82 percent of parents have talked to their children about topics related to sexuality, 'more complicated topics' within this area were being avoided. The poll, 'Let's Talk: Are Parents Tackling Crucial Conversations about Sex?' showed that parents talk to their offspring about a wide range of sexuality-related topics, including relationships (92 percent) and their own values about when sex should or should not take place (87 percent). However, fewer parents were talking with their children about more difficult topics. Only 74 percent were advising their children re how to say no to sex. Leslie Kantor, national director of education, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), has stated, 'The survey shows that some parents are still uncomfortable talking about harder topics, such as birth control and how to say no, and can use help having these conversation.' The survey further showed that 57 percent of parents indicated they feel only somewhat comfortable or uncomfortable talking to their children about sex and sexual health. It also showed that parents overwhelmingly support sex education programs in high school and middle school and believe that they should cover a wide range of topics. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/new-poll-parents-talking-their-kids-about-sex-often-not-tackling-harder-issues

3. Teachers will be trained to teach consent in age-appropriate and culturally sensitive ways
Those who support the compulsory teaching of sex education at all levels of education argue that teachers will be trained to present age-appropriate and culturally sensitive material to their students.
Advocates of compulsory in-school sex education claim that the programs being run are and will continue to be conducted in an appropriate manner. When Victoria announced that it would make consent education compulsory from pre-school through to Year 10, Employment Minister Jaala Pulford indicated that the new, extended courses would be developed in conjunction with child sex education specialists and young people so that teachers could be supplied with further training in order to ensure that the new programs were need-based and age-appropriate. Ms Pulford stated, 'We'll work with education experts and also young people to understand where the opportunities are for the best possible education for boys and girls, and people who are almost young men and young women... in a way that's age appropriate but also provides a very deep understanding for everyone about what consent means and why it matters.' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-21/consent-education-to-become-mandatory-in-victorian-state-schools/100019522 The Victorian Education Depart says of the sex education programs it runs, 'In Victoria, sex education is compulsory for students from Prep (Foundation) to Year 10. All our school-based programs are age-appropriate, and cover not just anatomy, puberty and reproduction but also body safety (protective behaviours), respect, friendships and the risks of technology. Our courses are...run with sensitivity, patience and humour.' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-21/consent-education-to-become-mandatory-in-victorian-state-schools/100019522https://sexeducationaustralia.com.au/schools/primary/#:~:text=In%20Victoria%2C%20sex%20education%20is,and%20the%20risks%20of%20technology.
It has been claimed by many educationalists that issues such as consent can be taught in a completely age-appropriate manner, beginning with pre-school and early primary school age children in ways that often do not make explicit reference to sex. In an ABC Q & A program televised on March 18, 2021, one of the panellists, Dr Briony Scott, the principal of Wenona, an independent, non-denominational school for girls, argued that instruction could be carefully calibrated so that the material presented was completely in accord with the developmental needs of the children being taught. Dr Scott explained, 'Consent training... starts right from the beginning - so, from [ages] one, two, three, [this involves] learning that your body is yours, that you don't impose or take over a child, their actions.... Now, it's not, obviously, all around sex - there's a lot of different ways that consent plays out with a person, and it has to be age appropriate, but most people are very capable of educating around that...from a very young age...' https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2021-18-03/13250600 Referring to Victoria's Respectful Relationships program, childhood educator Margie Buttriss, has similarly noted that 'child-friendly' examples are used. She explained, 'We're talking about situations such as Grandma wants to swoop in for the big sloppy kiss and if the child doesn't want that to happen what can they do? And they can respectfully say "No thanks Grandma, let's have a hug instead. Or if it's someone they don't know, "Let's high five, let's fist bump."' https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2021-18-03/13250600https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-28/consent-training-for-kids-empowers-them-against-sexual-abuse/11335842
There are numerous international examples of programs that have been developed to enable teachers to teach consent in an age-appropriate manner. For example, the Harvard Graduate School of Education has developed a program that allows teachers to instruct in consent from preschool to high school. Gideon Kahn, who has taught in preschools in California and New York using the Harvard program has explained that one of the early strategies is to develop a shared vocabulary using words such as 'body', 'space' and 'touch'. Kahn states, 'I don't think I've ever used the word 'consent' with a three-year-old... The goal is that if a kid doesn't want to be hugged by another kid, he can say, "This is my body," and be understood.' Another early stage is to establish a social-emotional groundwork. Kahn explains that children need to be helped to develop the social-emotional skills to thrive, and that these naturally dovetail with the concepts of consent and respect. Kahn states, 'Emotional intelligence, perspective-taking, empathy - these all allow you to basically understand your own feelings and the feelings of others and are foundational to respect.' By the senior end of the program, when students are in high school, concepts can be imbedded in contexts which match circumstances that older students are likely to encounter. For example, the impact of alcohol on an individual's capacity to give consent can be discussed. For example, in sex educator Sharon Lamb's 'Sex Ed for Caring Schools' she recommends asking students to discuss several scenarios in which alcohol might affect consent, as when you cannot tell whether the person you are with is too intoxicated to give consent. The Harvard program suggests that deep thinking about the ethics of sexual encounters and alcohol from the safe space of a classroom will help guide these older students' decision-making in real life. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/12/consent-every-age

4. Consent is currently either not being taught in Australian schools or is not properly taught
Those who support improved, mandatory consent instruction argue that currently consent is either not taught or is not well taught.
An overview of sex education in Australia through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, published by Junkee Medea on March 12, 2021, explained that 'one thing that just wasn't talked about that much, was consent. While young people were beginning to learn about biology and anatomy, there was limited discussion about consent violations like rape, or any form of abuse. For decades the focus remained on how sex worked, with little attention given to someone's right to choose whether they wanted it or not.' The Junkee overview further states, 'When sexual health was brought up in schools, it was done without there being any sort of support or training for teachers, who would pull resources from anywhere they could... It wasn't until the early 1990s when Australia started drafting its first national school curriculum that there was a mandate for every school to teach some kind of sex education.' https://junkee.com/consent-in-sex-education-never-made-mandatory-in-australian-schools/289967
Critics note that despite the mandated introduction of some form of sex education, its content varied and there was no requirement that consent be taught. Dr Jacqui Hendriks of the Curtin University School of Population Health has stated, 'There are some fabulous schools around the country who do address this issue [of consent] quite comprehensively. There are classroom teachers who prioritise it and they know that it's an important lesson and a conversation to have. But unfortunately, the way our curriculum is written for our teachers in our schools, it's quite open-ended and vague.' Dr Hendriks has stressed the need for explicit consent instruction from children's early years, in a variety of contexts, not only the sexual one. She has stated, 'It's a conversation that needs to happen early in childhood. It's about understanding as a young person that you are in charge of your own body. And you get to say if you're happy with something and you always have the right to say no. Just because you've agreed to do something doesn't mean you have to continue; you can stop at any point in time. https://junkee.com/consent-in-sex-education-never-made-mandatory-in-australian-schools/289967 Georgia Carr, a University of Sydney doctoral candidate studying how sex education is delivered in Australian schools, is also concerned that though consent is now part of the Australian Curriculum, it is not being taught in all schools. Carr has stated, 'Even though up to 90 percent of students receive sex education in years 7-10, it's much more likely that that covers the risks of sex such as STIs and unwanted pregnancy. It's much less likely to cover consent, pleasure and LGBTQIA relationships, which is why students have been asking for them for years. Like Dr Hendriks, Carr is concerned that consent be explicitly taught in a wide variety of contexts. She states, 'Consent education is generally assumed to mean (1) consent to sexual intercourse and (2) the legal definition of consent. While both of these should be part of consent education, they also only scratch the surface.
Consent is something that exists beyond sexual intercourse. It applies in all sexual encounters, from kissing to touching to sexting, and students can learn about how to seek and express consent even if they are not interested in sex yet. But consent also applies outside of sexual contact altogether. It applies when you ask a friend's permission to borrow their car, or when you offer to make them a cup of tea. The concept of consent can be taught even to young children: "Do you want to give grandma a hug or wave goodbye?"' https://www.smh.com.au/national/what-curriculum-says-about-consent-isn-t-necessarily-what-s-taught-in-classrooms-20210225-p575wz.html
Those arguing for compulsory education in consent, beginning in pre-school, presented as a basic element of everybody's human autonomy, claim that only this type of instruction will bring about the sort of attitudinal and behavioural change that is needed to help prevent unwanted sexual contact. Chanel Contos, an Australian academic who is completing a masters in gender and education at University College London, recently set up a petition calling for consent to be included earlier in Australian sex education and that sex education should be more 'holistic'. As of February 2021, the petition had received 22,000 signatures. Contos argues that consent is a complex concept which needs to be comprehensively taught from an early age. She claims that 'lessons need to be reflective of [students'] lives' and that currently this is not the case. https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/features/chanel-contos-consent-education-petition-lays-bare-the-depth-of-rape-culture-in-australia/news-story/c357e9b0b95760cbd52ce3472813c689

5. Schools need to teach consent to reduce the impact of pornography on young people
Those who support consent education in schools argue that this education is needed to minimise the effect of pornography on young people. They note that many young people view online pornography and that these images promote negative views of women and encourage non-consensual sex.
It has been noted that many young people seek information about sex through pornography. A 2016-2017 study among sex education teachers conducted by Latrobe University noted, 'Teachers said sex isn't being discussed at home with parents. Instead, students are deliberately seeking out information about sex from pornography.' https://theconversation.com/sexuality-education-can-counter-what-kids-learn-from-porn-but-some-teachers-fear-backlash-when-tackling-risky-topics-158209 Similar data has been supplied by Our Watch, a public awareness agency which works to prevent violence against women and their children in Australia. Our Watch's 2018 survey of nearly 2,000 young people (aged 15-20) found that the median age of first seeing pornography is 13 for young men and 16 for young women. Among those surveyed who had previously seen pornography (78 percent of the sample), young men were more likely to have actively sought out pornography the first time they viewed it (50 percent) compared to young women (40 percent). The survey results show that young men use pornography far more regularly than young women. Over half (56 percent) of young men surveyed indicated that they viewed pornography at least once per week over the past 12 months, with over 1 in 6 young men (17 percent) indicating daily usage. a high rate of young people reported that they had used pornography as a source of information to learn about sex and sexual relationships in the past 12 months (60 percent of young men and 41 percent of young women). Young people were also more likely to access pornography as a source of information on sex, than to get this information from their parents, healthcare workers or other family members. https://theconversation.com/sexuality-education-can-counter-what-kids-learn-from-porn-but-some-teachers-fear-backlash-when-tackling-risky-topics-158209https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/20022415/Pornography-young-people-preventing-violence.pdf
Advocates of better consent education in schools argue that this is necessary to reduce the negative impact of pornography. They claim that pornography is likely to develop unrealistic and aggressive attitudes toward women and sexual relationships in adolescent males. Our Watch has analysed the type of pornographic material accessed by young people to clarify the sexual attitudes and behaviours regular pornography viewing is likely to promote. In 2020 they produced a paper titled, 'Pornography, young people and preventing violence against women background paper'. This paper draws together existing findings and research specifically conducted by Our Watch to gauge the impact of pornography on young people and their ideas and attitudes regarding gender roles, sex, and relationships. It found that pornography tends to promote rigid gender roles, controlling behaviour among men and limited independence among women. It also found that pornography appears to condone violence against women and to present male peer relations that emphasise aggression and disrespect towards women. The analysis noted that one expression of men's dominance in pornography is that male characters direct the sexual encounter, with men typically depicted as being in control of the pace/direction of sexual activity. Another expression of this driver is male characters forcing female characters to perform a certain sexual act, with women eventually appearing to acquiesce and enjoy the act despite not initially consenting to it. This can also be seen in women's responses to violence in pornography; for example, one content analysis found that women who were gagged in a scene usually responded neutrally, positively, or with 'mixed signals' (that is, first appearing to dislike it and then changing their response to one of pleasure). Our Watch concluded, 'Such a script complies with perceptions of masculinity which require men to be "in charge" and persistent, both during sexual encounters and more broadly in their relationships with women. Further, it reproduces the ideas that femininity is characterised by passivity or subservience, that women should not be in charge of their own sexual desires, and that consent is not necessary or valued.' Our Watch has surveyed young people to gauge their awareness of the negative attitudes that pornography promotes. It found that views about the potential for pornography to be harmful to women are clearly gendered, with women far more likely to report this type of concern. Most young women (53 percent) felt that pornography is at least somewhat violent towards women, a view shared by only 36 percent of young men. Similarly, substantially more young women (67 percent) felt that pornography is at least somewhat degrading to women, compared to young men (46 percent). https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/20022415/Pornography-young-people-preventing-violence.pdf Those supporting more, and better consent education argue that schools need to act to reduce the impact of the negative attitudes encouraged by pornography.