Teaching Affirmative Consent in High School Health Education

Last week, California Governor Brown signed SB 695 which requires that California public high schools teach students about affirmative consent. This legislation builds upon the success of SB 967 (2014) which established the affirmative consent standard for colleges’ investigation of sexual assaults on campus.

Shaina Brown, CALCASA’s Public Affairs and Communications Manager, writes

At CALCASA, we work everyday to inspire a cultural shift where sexual violence is not tolerated. These pieces of legislation have the potential to begin to help us change the culture we live in that allows violence to persist and introduces the concepts of healthy relationships before students arrive on a college campus. Affirmative consent is a mechanism by which we can begin to prevent sexual assault, sexual harassment, and dating/domestic violence by creating a safe space to teach our youth about consent, respecting boundaries, and healthy relationships.

How do you see affirmative consent as part of efforts to prevent sexual violence?