Over half of Manchester students believe consent classes should be compulsory

Let’s talk about consent


In a recent sexual attitudes survey by The Tab concerning consent classes, an impressive 1,747 of Manchester students responded.

In this, a whopping 56 per cent of you agreed that consent classes should be compulsory. This is not surprising when considering the climate of sexual assault in our city.

However, 47 per cent of you deemed consent classes to be highly “patronising”. I also understand this. It’s common sense after all. Common sense that yes means yes, and funnily enough, no means no. So yes, these classes may appear insulting to your intelligence and to your moral fibres. OBVIOUSLY rape is never ok.

So why then, do so many sexual assaults still happen in our great city of Manchester? Almost weekly reports of victims who have helplessly been rendered a statistic. Perhaps the often fine line of consent needs to be made clear at a consent class.

As this behaviour continues on, people doomed to be victims, only 9 per cent out of 1,747 students showed up to the consent classes, and 1 per cent of you walked out.

I agree, it really is undermining to be talked through what the word no means. But what other option do we have?