A Comprehensive Guide to Sexual Consent and Violence Prevention in Sexuality Education

Sexual violence is a critical social issue in Australia, with reported cases steadily increasing each year (ABS 2016). A key element in efforts to decrease sexual violence against women is to emphasise sexual consent. This Book uses interviews with 23 same-sex attracted women to investigate how same-sex attracted women understand sexual consent; how sexual consent operates in same-sex attracted women's relationships; and where interviewees learned about sexual consent. Findings from these interviews align with international efforts to prevent sexual violence and promote affirmative sexual consent and provide a more inclusive model of what sexual consent looks like for women. Internationally, changing attitudes about sexual violence coupled with the growing number of women's voices being heard through online platforms, have pushed many educational institutions to revisit sexual violence prevention measures. In the current cultural climate, sexual consent is increasingly considered a key factor in healthy sexual interactions, rather than simply a tool to distinguish between wanted and unwanted sex. This trend is less apparent in Australian, where there is little evidence that sexual consent is explicitly discussed in sexuality education.