BUILDING

CONSENT CULTURE
AT ROBESON HIGH SCHOOL

a collaboration with the

University Community Collaborative and
Robeson High School
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction................................................ p.2
2. Our Words, Our Stories..............p.3-6
3. What is Rape Culture? ..............p.7
4. The Facts.........................................................p.8-9
5. Supporting Survivors.....................p.10
6. Survey Results.........................................p.11
7. Our Recommendations.............. p.12
8. Call To Action........................................ p.13
9. Need help?....................................................p.14
10. Acknowledgements.....................p.15

"My generation is plagued with men who take advantage

of people and women who do also. I want to be a
spokesperson for those who are afraid to speak."
- Shanice
Introduction
Hi! We are girls from Robeson High School who came together
this fall to discuss consent, why it's important and why it's needed
not just in school, but in everyday life. Consent is a conscious,
voluntary, positive agreement between legal participants. In this
zine, we will share stories, poems and other writing that we
produced about consent, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
We also share some facts, national statistics and data from a
survey we created for students at our school. Lastly, we offer a list
of recommendations for how our school can build a culture of
consent, where consent is normalized and understood and where
victims of sexual violence are believed and supported.

The Consent Team

Student Leaders: Tasia, Charlene, Tymasah, Saniah, Amina, Jada,
Shanice, Dejah, Monet, Ayo and Kamry

Facilitators: Kashara White, Kayla Watkins,

Johannah Bennett and Nuala Cabral
p.2
 OUR WORDS
The Body of a Girl Protect All
by Dejah by Jada Rutling

The body of a girl Protect the ones you love. Why

The heartache of a woman
do you hurt the people that bring
The memories of a girl that’s
more people in the world?
seen the worst parts of the world
The body of a girl who’s admired by Protect all genders.
men Protect all ages.
The things that this body of a girl
has felt on her skin
The hands of many men "For some people,
who didn’t care what body she was in. consent isn't an easy topic
Roughed her up in bed and put a to talk about, but if everyone is
pillow together, approaching the topic
over her head. as a whole, I think it'll be
What rest? What safety? What peace? much more comforting..."
A real nightmare with a mind full of - Tasia
trapped doors
As the body of a girl sheds
pieces of a woman
starts to show.
That began by the many men
who made her innocence shed.
Now all that’s left was a body of a
woman in a body full of never ending
pain.

p.3
 OUR STORIES:
EXPERIENCING
STREET HARASSMENT
This guy complimented me
on my hat and kept talking to
me. He asked me to tell him After being followed by a grown man
how old I was. I said 12 and for 3 blocks yelling “where you going?”
he walked away. I finally mustered up the courage to
say, “School, ni**a I’m 9!” He had the
nerve to respond “well what you expect
when you come out the house!"

A stranger felt it was okay

to touch my boob because
I made conversation
with him.

One day the same boy that

followed me before, followed me
again going home, off the trolley.
I texted my grandma to come
meet me, while I waited I went to
the store and ordered food to
take up time.

p.4
 OUR STORIES:
EXPERIENCING
STREET HARASSMENT

My sister was viciously

"Look at her butt!" he yelled.
grabbed by a random
"Chill, bro she just a kid!"
person who was trying to
his friend said.
get her attention.
"So!?"

I was
harassed on the
bus everyday
when I was in 8th
grade.

On Cecil B Moore this weirdo

asked me if I had a boyfriend
and I walked away like I didn’t
hear. He followed me to the
store I was going to.
p.5
 HARASSMENT
IN OUR SCHOOL
Boys touch girls in
the hallways without
Girls randomly get their permission
their butts grabbed

There is too
much play I saw someone
fighting here. get pinned to the
ground while
play fighting

Boys make
comments about my
body when I walk up
the stairs.

p.6
 What is Rape Culture?
This term describes the environment in which
normalizes and trivializes sexual assault,
abuse and rape.

source: 11thprincipleconsent.org
p.7
 The Facts

In a given school year,

58% of 7-12th graders
experience sexual
harassment

1/6 of high school age

girls experience sexual
dating violence

Within the LGBTQ community, bisexual women and

transgender people face the most alarming rates of
sexual violence (22% and 47% respectively)

Male college-aged students (18-24) are 78% more likely

than non-students of the same age
to be a victim of sexual assault

Sources: hrc.org and rainn.org

p.8
 The Facts
2/3 of rapes go unreported

For every black woman who reports rape,

15 black women do not report.

Sources: nsvrc.org and National Black Women’s Health Project

p.9
 Supporting Survivors
Supportive things to say to a survivor

“I believe you” and “It took a lot of courage to tell me about

this.” It can be extremely difficult for survivors to come forward
and share their story. They may feel ashamed, concerned that
they won’t be believed, or worried they’ll be blamed. Be careful
not to interpret calmness as a sign that the event did not occur
—everyone responds to traumatic events differently. The best
thing you can do is to believe them.

“It’s not your fault” and “You didn’t do anything to deserve

this.” Survivors may blame themselves, especially if they know
the perpetrator personally or were under the influence of alcohol
or drugs when the assault occurred. Remind the survivor,
maybe even more than once, that they are not to blame.

“You are not alone” and “I care about you and am here to
listen or help in any way I can.” Let the survivor know that you
are there for them and willing to listen to their story if they are
comfortable sharing it and that you do not judge them for what
happened. Ask them if there are others in their life they also feel
comfortable going to, and let them know about the help that is
available through the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

“I’m sorry this happened” and “This shouldn’t have

happened.” Acknowledge that the experience has affected their
life. Phrases like “This must be really tough for you,” and “I’m
glad you felt you could share this with me” help to
communicate empathy.

Source: www.rainn.org
p.10
 Survey Results from
Robeson High School

27% of 146 students surveyed have experienced or

witnessed sexual harassment.

65% of students usually speak up when they see

sexual harassment happen
61% of boys usually speak up and 75% of usually girls speak up

Who is punished for violating dress code?

21% of boys have been punished and 32% of girls have been punished

87% of students believe schools should teach consent

85% of boys agree and 91% of girls agree

p.11
 Building a Culture of Consent
Consent Culture: where consent is normalized and understood
and where victims of sexual violence are believed and supported.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OUR SCHOOL

1. We want consent education. And most of our peers (87%) agree that consent
should be taught in schools. We want Robeson to actively raise awareness about
consent through classes, programs and public service announcements. There needs
to be a school wide understanding that unwanted touching is not okay. Students
need to understand that there is a limit to playing.

2.   We want therapists who are accessible and prepared to respond to students
disclosing sexual harassment and violence. We feel that one counselor is not
enough to serve the needs of the entire school community.
We want a minimum of 2 counselors; preferably of different genders who have
expertise dealing with the diverse needs of the students (LGBTQ, Sexual Assault, and
problems managing schoolwork). We want counselors that can focus on more than
just seniors and their lives after high school.

3.  We want equality between boys and girls in terms of dress code .
We believe that policing women’s clothing more often reinforces the idea that boys
are superior to girls. In our school, dress codes should be enforced equally
regardless of gender. We girls shouldn’t feel that what we wear will make us victims
of assault nor should we be policed more than our male peers for what we wear. For
example, women’s shoulders are no sexier than men’s shoulders.

4. We want smarter consequences for people who violate consent.

We do not want to anyone labeled as “rapists”, “perverts” or “criminals,” we just
want to make people more aware of consent so we can create a safe community
where everyone is comfortable. We suggest enforcing some form of serious
consequences to those who knowingly violate consent. We would like the “victim,”
the person who violated consent and a person of authority (such as our principal) to
have a meeting to decide on the form of consequence based on the degree of the
violation. Based on this meeting, the student should participate in a consent
program, fill out a pink slip or face another form of consequence.

p.12
 Conclusion: A Call To Action
Now that you know about consent and what people go through in
school or on their way home, we hope you join us as we
try to build consent culture.

School Leaders: we hope you can make changes to our school to

make us feel more comfortable and safe.

Bystanders: when you witness

sexual harassment or sexual
assault, speak up because it’s
the right thing to do. Speaking
up is not something everyone
can do. Be the one person
that won't sit back and let it
happen. You could be that
one person who makes a
difference!

p.13
 Need help?
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact
WOAR, Philadelphia's rape crisis center, at www.woar.org

WOAR 24 Hour Hotline: The Attic Youth Center

(215)985-3333
1617 John F Kennedy Blvd
Suite #800, Philadelphia,
PA 19103
Counseling, programs and
support for LGBTQ youth.
255 S 16th St, Philadelphia,
PA 19102
(215) 545-4331
atticyouthcenter.org

The Steve Text Hotline

Are you a young person of
color? Feeling down,
stressed or overwhelmed?
Text STEVE to 741741

p.14
 Acknowledgments
Several people helped make this project possible. We
would like to thank our teacher Hanako Franz who offered
her classroom and time, program facilitators from the
University Community Collaborative, and the Valentine
Foundation for funding this project.

The University Community Collaborative is a youth leadership organization

based at Temple University. Learn more at uccollab.org.

© 2018
p.15