The Consent Workshop #EndWarOnNigerianWomen

#EndWarOnNigerianWomen

The Consent Workshop in partnership with sister organizations, is launching a campaign to protest the harassment of women looking to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, and organizations that offer these services.#EndWarOnNigerianWomen On Tuesday, May 21st, Police officers raided a Marie Stopes Clinic in Lagos, harassed the health workers and patients and took away confidential client information. Marie Stopes offers free and affordable family planning services to women and men, pregnancy tests, pre and post-natal care, treatment and services for sexually transmitted infections (STI), HIV testing and ultrasound and laboratory services. They have trained staff who offer counselling and treatment especially to those who cannot afford the costs at… Read More

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The Consent Workshop The Bystander Approach

The Bystander Approach

Society does not do a great job at condemning sexual assault publicly. This is especially in moments where we are not directly affected. We know it should not be happening, but we are slower to respond when it does not happen to us, a friend or a family member. We should not be waiting to be directly affected by tools of the patriarchy, to understand that the urgent need for it to be dismantled. Jackson Katz describes a Bystander as anyone who is not involved in the dyad of abuse but is embedded in peer culture relationships with people who might be in that situation. The general idea with this approach… Read More

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The Consent Workshop Becoming Better Allies

Becoming Better Allies

The journey towards ending sexual violence requires going against norms that have been ingrained in us unconsciously and, in some cases, consciously. It is important to remember that we cannot apply technical or routine solutions to a problem that has proven to be outside our current strategy.  The eradication of sexual harassment and assault is an adaptive challenge that needs to be tackled with an adaptive solution. Sexual harassment has been woven into our social and cultural fabric by its normalization and even its legalization, resulting in generations of individuals who have had no knowledge of consent as a right or a responsibility. Simply put, we need to move beyond… Read More

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The Consent Workshop Why We Need to Get Rid of Rape Culture.

Why We Need to Get Rid of Rape Culture.

  Rape Culture is society’s refusal to recognize the recent predatory behaviour exhibited by Kodak Black towards Young Ma, the trivialization of sexual assault and unwanted sexual advances in today’s society. It is an environment that allows sexual violence to occur and one that creates justifications for when it happens. Emi Boscamp for mindbodygreen.com, explains this as all the ways we teach women to prevent rape as opposed to teaching men not to rape.  Society does not explicitly say “rape people”, but it informally educates and conditions us to see rape as a normalcy, even up to the point of making justifications as to why it happened. This is where the danger is. Once… Read More

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The Consent Workshop #NAMEANDSHAME

#NAMEANDSHAME

There are only two known sex offenders registry in Nigeria one in Lagos established in 2014 and another in Ekiti. These registries are however not updated regularly. A sex offender registry is a database containing information about convicted sex offenders. This is maintained and accessed by law enforcement to keep track of the activities of sex offenders in the community. It is necessary to have one in every state because citizens have a right to know if a sex offender resides in their neighbourhood, it is also a useful tool for law enforcement in the identification of sexual offenders. This ensures the safety of citizens. The consent workshop has launched… Read More

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