If+You+Scream+Who+Will+Hear+You?+Who+Will+Notice?

Simone Jones

n8849129

Tutor: Abbey Diaz

From 'Condoms on Bananas' to Negotiating Consent

=Project Unbreakable: From the Mouths of Rapists. =



Artefact:
Project Unbreakable is a program inspired by images taken of rape victims holding signs which the words of their attackers have been transcribed onto. This image depicts several images from project unbreakable sharing the same lines for the, now famous song, 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke.

Public Health Issue Central to Analysis:
A rape culture can be defined as ‘a culture in which rape is prevalent, pervasive and is sanctioned and maintained through fundamental attitudes and beliefs about gender, sexuality and violence. (University of Minnesota Duluth, n.d). Ultimately paying respects to the growing concern of confusion throughout the knowledge and understanding of consent within Australia. This confusion stems from the different cases of assault, consent and rape throughout different forms of media, sexual education within the schooling system and various forms of consent throughout kink relationships. Therefore, underpinning the universal misconception and misunderstanding of what dictates and defines consent during any sexual activity.

Literature Review:
Young people of today are typically younger at their first experience with sexual intercourse than were their parents, with approximately one-third of year 11 students having previously engaged in sexual intercourse, according to recent Australian/Victorian data (Family Planning Queensland, 2011). Following this, it is seen that the average age, initial intercourse for young people born within or after the 1980's is 16 (the legal age of consent) but this is also predicted to be decreasing further, from the average age of 18 for years prior to this. This rate of decrease is becoming more alarming as the teaching of sexual health and consent within schools is becoming more vague, if not completely avoided. Family Planning Queensland (FPQ) says some families are being forced to pay for the lessons on sexuality and relationships, and other schools are not offering any sex education at all. FPQ education director Holly Brennan says sex education should be mandatory, estimating that a third of schools get quite comprehensive sexuality education. A third of schools get a 'oneoff' - the talk before schoolies - and a third of schools would be getting no sexuality education at all.If children don't receive sexuality education they are more at risk of sexual abuse, they are more at risk of unplanned pregnancies, they are more at risk of getting STDs. The only topics related to consent which are covered within the curriculum are how to avoid unwanted or unplanned sex and effects of alcohol/ drug use on decision making. This exclusion of consent in normal relationships is based on the assumption that the only consent violations are while drunk, when a woman is unable to express consent or when she hasn't tried to avoid the situation enough. Sixteen percent of teachers have no sex education training, and 54% have had inservice training to teach the classes, instead of as part of their prior education. This lack of proper training means teachers are often out of their depth, and as a result a lot of education is reliant on how the teachers perceive the subject. Arguments against the relevance of sex education in schools often mention how teenagers find the information through the internet, meaning what is being taught is already known (Better Health Channel, 2013). The sex education in Australian schools survey shows that 79.9% of teachers reference information from websites; with all the misinformation on the internet, and ulterior motives behind many organisations who create websites, many teachers may be using unreliable information. Consequently, the sex education in Australian schools survey found only 55.6% of teachers teach on non-heterosexual attraction in Year 9 and even less in all other years. Alarmingly, very few students receive any education either in school or in their  community about laws regarding sexual consent or any discussion of what the information meant in practice (Education Queensland, 2010). When asked by the Youth Studies Australia, what they think is missing from sexuality education, students replied with wanting more information around social constructs of sexual health and and negotiating safe and consensual sex, as opposed to the primary biological concepts. A narrow focus in sexuality education on biological aspects does not adequately support young people in the negotiation of safe and consensual sex.

In addition to this, no curriculum within Australia covers any form of kink sex or BDSM teaching in relation to the difference in consent and circumstances. BDSM is a variety of erotic practices involving dominance and submission, role-playing, restraint, and other interpersonal dynamics and as consent within BSDM encounters, requires both partners to be aware of emotional and physical risks and fully consent to partake in them, it differs from legal and moral circumstances of consensual 'normal' sex.With the nature of a BDSM culture, there are two different types of harm and risk within the acts and these range from the spectrum of physical BDSM, all activitiesthat are carried out physically, eg flogging and bondage and mental BDSM the collection of activities to create psychological impact, without the physical component; recreational hypothesis and psychological punishments. The nature of the criminal offense here is that one person causes physical harm—injury and/or intense pain—to another person (Neilsen, 2010). It is important to understand that the law sees this as causing harm, not engaging in mutually beneficial conduct. This means that the law treats BDSM as violence, not as sex. That explains why the issue of consent is different in BDSM cases than in rape cases. In a rape case, the sex act is not viewed as criminal unless it can be shown that one party did not consent. In a BDSM case, however, the causing of physical harm is, in and of itself, criminal.Although, in the process of remaining safe, many take the act of consent for granted, BDSM or kink sex activity, even where clearly consensual, can be and frequently is prosecuted under state criminal laws dealing with assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault or sexual abuse (Alder, 2013). Without foreknowledge of this, many BDSM cases are prosecuted as assault if both partners do not understand the enormity or circumstances of the situation and it is taken to authorities. This is primarily due the lack of communication and discussion of consent, which could be more prevalent had students been taught the guidelines and laws prior to them leaving school.

Consent is arguably an important element in the prevention of sexual violence and in enabling young people to negotiate safer sex with a partner. The state of Australia’s sex education is becoming increasingly out of touch with youth, providing more excuses for the potential rise and stability of sexual assault and rape cases within Australia. Annually there are approximately 80 victims per 100,000 people within Australia who have suffered from sexual assault and with a high proportion of female victims, marginalizing 83% of all sexual assault victims, identifying as of a female gender. As supplied by the ABS (2012), 48% of sexual assault victims throughout 2012 we aged between 10 and 19 years of age, which categorizes these victims within primary and high school student age limits (Phillips & Park, 2006). This alarming figure represents how crucial it is to inform school students of every age, the laws, concepts and guidelines of consensual, safe sex.

Cultural and Social Analysis:
As a result of the education system, media and universal misunderstandings of consent, the treatment in classroom mimics the attitude of adult society and is part of institutionalizing misogynistic ideas due to media portrayal of rape victims 'asking for it'. Teaching teenagers that men have little to no responsibility in assuring consent or using birth control means these attitudes are more difficult to displace later in life. Which is continually supported by women's inability to fully contribute to front-line defense and their minority seating within the government which has been further proven by Tony Abbott's recent self-election of women's affairs and single female representative lead to a decrease in value as women still continue to be in-equal, therefore possibly contributing to high rape statistics. Sexual abuse prevalence differs between cultures depending on representation of genders and attitudes towards sexual violence and more likely to occur in cultures that cultivate beliefs of the superiority of males and cultural and social inferiority of women (Kalra & Bhugra, 2013). The belief of male superiority amongst cultures can be defined as a ‘rape culture’ and it fosters the idea that rape is a part of everyday reality. According to the Encyclopedia of rape the term 'rape culture' originated in the 1970's Radical Feminism movement. This radical feminist theory believes this is due to men perceiving women as a threat to their social power and status and use rape as a form of regaining a sense of control (Martin et al, 2006). This theory sees rape as a violent act rather than a sexual act, instigated by male motivations to degrade and dominate, and denies that rape is individual but rather “nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear” (Cahill, 2001).

An individual is shaped by the culture they live in, which defines their values, behaviours and attitudes. It also shapes societies views on what is considered sexual acts and sexual violence. The social norms such as drinking beer, short shorts and crop tops and walking home at night to 'save a few dollar's cab fare' unfortunately allow society to displace the blame of any form of sexual assault back onto the victim claiming ‘they were asking for it’ (Hess 2010). This social and public health issue can only be transformed through public awareness, understanding and education, culminating in planned social action and cultural change. The aim throughout Australian schooling systems and educational systems around the world should be to get males and females, to think and talk about sexual consent. Asking for consent should be a normal part of any sexual relationship and without it often it is implied which may lead to misinterpretation. Education systems should encourage young people to actively ask and check that the other person is okay and comfortable with any sexual activity; and remember just because a person doesn't actually say no, doesn't mean that you can imply they are consenting. Young adults should be taught to be clear on what you want/don’t want and what the other person wants/doesn't want. It’s quite simple, checking a person is consenting could avoid a prison sentence.

Analysis of Artefact:
Project Unbreakable aims to increase the awareness of sexual assault and cases of sexual interaction within consent and encourage these victims to heal through art. Victims of sexual assault and abuse are encourage to write words, phrases or sentences from their attackers onto signs and show the world that they can over come the ordeals they were subjected to. The victims words juxtaposed against the similar to identical lyrics from one of the most popular, current pop songs shows how insignificant the severity of non-consent is within society. The lyrics to this pop song is learnt via all ages, deeming it acceptable to convince someone 'I know you want it' and 'The way you grab me, must want to get nasty'. Teaching young children and adults that someone's body language can provide enough evidence to say that an individual is consenting to any kind of sexual act without any verbal consent whatsoever. This perfectly artefact represents the comparison of society and common media to the horrific reality of the crimes uneducated and media persuaded people are committing. The ability for radio stations and celebrities world-wide to support the mediocrity of consent represents the path which younger generations will lead if change remains unsupported. Children are highly influenced and with media normalizing and promoting non-consent and 'blurred lines' in addition to limited education in schools, there is nowhere the statistics of sexual abuse, assault and rape can go, but to increase.

Reflections of Other Wiki's
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References
Adler, J. (2013). Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 42(2), 286-288. doi: 10.1177/0094306113477381vv Better Health Channel. (2013a). Sex education – talking to young people. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from [] Bhugra, D., & Kalra, G. (2013). Sexual violence against women: Understanding cross-cultural intersections.Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(3), 244-249. Retrieved from [] Cahill, A. J. (2001). Rethinking rape. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Family Planning Queensland. (2008). Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from []

Family Planning Queensland. (2011). Evidence briefing: Parents’ views on sexuality and relationships education (SRE). Retrieved November 1, 2013 from [] Family Planning Victoria. (n.d.). Consent. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from [] Growing and Developing Healthy Relationships. (n.d.). Dealing with controversial issues. Retrieved November 1, 2013 from [] Education Queensland. (n.d.). Health and physical education. Retrieved from November 1, 2013 from [] Hess, A. (2010). Rape Analogy: The "Walking in a bad neighbourhood" Theory. Washington City Paper[Washington].

Martin, K. (2006). Gender Equality and Women's Absolute Status: A Test of the Feminist Models of Rape.Violence Against Women, 12(4), 321-339. doi:10.1177/1077801206286311

Nielsen, M. (2010). Safe, Sane, and Consenual. International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 24(2), 265-288. doi: 10.5840/ijap201024223

Phillips, J., & Park, M. (2006). Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women – Parliament of Australia. Retrieved from []