By: Jasmine Morrow 
Staff Writer

Abby’s House hosted University of Oregon’s Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team on Western’s campus to hold a presentation and discussion on consensual sex.

SWAT is a team of undergraduate students who believe consent is the most important part of a healthy relationship. Their definition of consent is a yes that is freely given when an option of no is vital: consent can be revoked, consent must be a verbal response and both participants need to be 100% sure and have healthy boundaries.

During the presentation, SWAT performed scenes about consent. Conscious that there
are multiple different kinds of sexuality
and relationships, they performed several different examples for as many scenarios as they could. SWAT wants people to know how to have safe and healthy sexual experiences.

The presenters held a workshop that consisted of interactive activities where the audience had the chance to speak about their thoughts or even act in some scenes. Before the workshop started, SWAT noted that self-care comes first and if anyone felt uncomfortable at anytime, they could talk to someone who was waiting in the back, or just leave entirely.

In the first activity, the audience to closed their eyes and remembered a pleasant sexual activity. Then, once they opened their eyes, they were asked to turn to the person next to them and tell them the experience. Because that’s usually an uncomfortable situation, many laughed and didn’t share what came to mind. This activity was to show how survivors of sexual assault feel when they have to talk to someone about their experience: awkward and uncomfortable.

The second activity was a scene between two actors from SWAT, who talked about sexual experiences using a baseball metaphor and a pizza metaphor. The baseball metaphor showed that there is a competitiveness and that there is a winner and a loser in a relationship. The pizza metaphor showed that sex as a shared experience, as it should be.

SWAT also talked about consent when drugs or alcohol are in effect. Alcohol is the number one cause of non-consensual sex. Drugs and alcohol impair how to read body language; it’s hard for a verbal ‘yes,’ when one lacks control and one can be mentally incapacitated.

Those in healthy sexual relationships know that sex is a choice: it has boundaries, respects values and requires communication. No matter what gender or sexuality, partners should always respect each other’s boundaries.

Contact the author at jmorrow16@wou.edu