Back in 2016, a Maryland middle schooler, Maeve Sanford-Kelly, was horrified while listening to the sexual assault stories of Donald Trump, Brock Turner, and Bill Cosby. She wanted to make a change, and luckily, her mother, Ariana Kelly, had an idea. As a delegate in the Maryland state legislature, she introduced a bill requiring schools to cover consent in their sex education class. The bill failed the first time it was proposed, and similar bills have also failed in other states. Many believe that teaching about consent condones sex. Luckily, the Maryland bill was passed the second time it was submitted. Many student groups campaigned for this bill, wanting the best for our future generations. One of the teens, Matt Post, now goes to Yale University, where Brett Kavanaugh went to school. Matt still sees rape culture, and he says his friends don't have a complete understanding of what healthy relationships look like. Slowly, with bills like these going into effect, education around consent can improve.
Sexual assault is a topic that today, victims are forcing others to finally address. This article states that about 8% of girls and 0.7% of boys are raped by the time they are eighteen. With statistics like that, we can't pretend that nothing is happening. I'm glad to be able to shine some positive light on this topic by writing about people who are making changes. In this article, it's actually a lot of younger people and student groups who are the ones campaigning for change, while older people in positions of power think that bills like these will have negative impacts. Both now and in the late 1800s, people seem to believe that pretending sex doesn't exist will lead to less pre-marital sex and pregnancies. Just as people today think that teaching about consent condones sex, in 1872, the Comstock Act, banning contraceptives, was passed because people believed that contraceptives were "obscene" and "promoted promiscuity". In reality, people just want to stay safe. Margaret Sanger was a woman who was super important to the introduction and availability of birth control. She spent her whole life trying to make contraceptives available to women, therefore breaking the law many times (definitely look her up, she accomplished so much). There is a video in the article that compares consent to a cup of tea. It covers multiple scenarios regarding consent that people usually have questions about. This video is being used in schools like Maeve Sanford-Kelly's school because it is so informative and easy to understand. Take three minutes out of your day to watch it, because change starts with us.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/28/652203139/should-we-teach-about-consent-in-k-12-brett-kavanaughs-home-state-says-yes
