981311 Pd 3 Going All the Way It's time to say yes to consent education There's a song running through

my head right now, one I've heard on the radio, in the hallways, on my friends' iPods. "I know you want it I know you want it," it goes. "That's why I'm gonna take a good girl!" ""lurred #ines," $y %o$in Thi&ke, is &urrently most famous as 'iley (yrus' )'* soundtra&k. #isten &arefully, though, and you'll hear the song's true message. "The way you gra$ me must wanna get nasty," Thi&ke sings. "I know you want it ! &an't let it get +ast me you're far from +lasti& talk a$out getting $lasted." In other words, he is singing a$out how a girl tou&hing him means that she wants to have se, with him, and that he has the right to have se, with her. *nd that she is getting drunk. (asual tou&hing is not &onsent. -aving se, with someone is not a right. .runk +eo+le &annot &onsent. /et somehow, this $latantly ra+e0+ositive song is $eing +layed in s&hools, and teenagers are singing along. It's not 1ust one odious song. In the 23 today, there is an e+idemi& of se,ual assault among the s&hool0aged. *&&ording to the %a+e, *$use and In&est 4ational 4etwork 5%*I446, every two minutes someone is assaulted, and 878 of those assaulted are under 37. 9orty0four +er&ent of those assaulted are under the age of 18. *nnually, more than 91,:77 teenagers are ra+ed. To $e &lear, most of these aren't stereoty+i&al stranger0ra+e stories. 'ost modern assaults are "date ra+es." *&&ording to %*I44, two0thirds of vi&tims knew the assailant. *lmost :78 of them had +reviously &onsidered the ra+ist a friend, or at least an a;uantain&e. In almost 978 of su&h &ases, al&ohol was involved, as was the &ase in the 4aval

*&ademy &ase whi&h is &urrently $eing tried. That &ase is +arti&ularly nota$le for e,+osing a s&hool0wide &ulture in whi&h, a&&ording to a 3e+t. < arti&le in the =ashington Post, "3nit&hing is &onsidered among the worst things that a midshi+man &an do." >ven if the so0&alled "snit&hing" is a legitimate ra+e allegation. =hile the 4aval *&ademy is &urrently in the s+otlight, +lenty of s&hools have +ro$lemati&ally high num$ers of se,ual assault &ases. *&&ording to (am+us 3afety maga?ine, $etween one0fourth and one0fifth of female students will $e se,ually assaulted during &ollege. *nd one0fifth of female high s&hool students re+ort $eing a$used $y a romanti& +artner. /et ra+ists &ontinue to es&a+e +unishment, +artially $e&ause of myths like "$lurred lines" of &onsent. In reality, &onsent is sim+le. 'ay$e the vi&tim was +assed out. 'ay$e the vi&tim was high. 'ay$e the vi&tim 1ust didn't say no. "ut never, never did the vi&tim say yes, without &oer&ion. Therein lies the +ro$lem. The *meri&an edu&ational system, and +o+ular &ulture in general, often fails to tea&h teens that only yes means yes. (onsent edu&ation is too fre;uently missing from our s&hools. In my own e,+erien&e of 'ontgomery (ounty Pu$li& 3&hools health edu&ation, &onsent was mentioned only in a +ower+oint on se,ting and statutory ra+e. *nd the offi&ial '(P3 summary of the &urri&ulum for 17th grade health edu&ation, found on the s&hool system we$site, does not mention &onsent at all. It does mention tea&hing a "&a+a&ity for setting se,ual limits," $ut nowhere is the im+ortan&e of tea&hing +eo+le to not violate the se,ual limits of others set down. >du&ating students on &onsent is sim+le, and it makes a $ig differen&e. @ne 1999 study, "%a+e myth a&&e+tan&e in &ollege students," $y 3helly 3&haefer -in&k and %i&hard =. Thomas,

found that students who re&eived some degree of &onsent edu&ation $efore &ollege had mu&h lower rates of $elief in myths like, "=hen girls go to +arties wearing slutty &lothes, they're asking for trou$le." *nd when the "lines" of what is and is not ra+e are &learly drawn out for students, ra+ists lose their a$ility to argue that &onsent is $lurry. It isn't, and it shouldn't $e. =e &annot allow our &ountry's ra+e &ulture to +er+etuate itself through the &y&le of ignoran&e. It's time to get &ommon0sense &onsent edu&ation into &lassrooms a&ross the &ountry, edu&ation that tea&hes kids what &onsent is and what it is not, edu&ation that re&ogni?es the $lame for se,ual assault lies solely with the assailant. It's time to sto+ tolerating songs, videos, and 1okes that glorify ra+e and +er+etuate the myth of murky &onsent. It's time to tea&h teens that only yes means yes. "I hate these $lurred lines," %o$in Thi&ke sings. 3o do I, 'r. Thi&ke. "ut we have different reasons in mind