Several campus organizations and Temple Student Government hosted a consent workshop on Thursday in the Student Center to discuss the culture of consent and understanding respect.
About ten students attended the workshop.
Liz Zadnik, assistant director of the Wellness Resource Center, Trent Reardon, vice president of services for Temple Student Government, and Shira Freiman, TSG director of student affairs, led the workshop.
The workshop was organized in conjunction with TSG, Temple’s chapter of It’s On Us and Student Activists Against Sexual Assault as part of Sexual Assault Prevention Week.
“Consent is about respecting another person’s body and wellbeing,” Zadnik said to students during the event.
Freiman said she wants students to discuss consent more.
“We want to broaden the conversation and include it in everyday interactions,” Freiman said.
Students at the workshop discussed how drugs, alcohol, and stigmas surrounding sexual assault can impact consent. The conversation also focused on how society views and discusses sex with their peers.
“It seems like everyone is doing it, but that’s not true,” said Chaviva Galapo, the prevention captain of It’s on Us.
When students were asked about their education of consent, the majority of students said their freshman year of college was their first time talking about it.
Reardon said he is involved in workshops like this and sexual violence awareness because he wants to provide a safe environment for students.
Reardon said that he wants to build a campus culture that allows students to talk about their experiences with sexual assault.
“Survivors or people who know survivors, though it is hard, can start the conversation,” Reardon said.
The WRC promotes well-being and provides services for sexual misconduct on campus. The center also offers students safe sex methods like condoms, free HIV testing, and training for students in stressful situations.
This event is the third scheduled for Sexual Assault Prevention Week. There will be a “Writing Off Sexual Violence” event on Friday from 12-3 p.m. at 13th Street and Montgomery Street. Reardon and Freiman will give a speech about sexual assault at halftime during Saturday’s football game against the University of Buffalo.
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