Most people who work around a college campus (and hopefully the students) are familiar with the term “Title IX.” I have been trained several times about what exactly Title IX means, how to implement it, and how it effects students. For those who don’t know, Title IX is a bill that was passed in 1972 that requires gender equality for any program/institution that is federally funded, such as state colleges. What it is used for in college is largely in the realm of sexual abuse, dating violence, and sexual assault.

For some reason, the definition of “consent” seems to be missing from some college students’ vocabularies (looking at you Brock Turner.) At nearly every training that I have been to, having worked in Orientation and Residence Life at SUNY Jefferson Community College, one single video has been shown to explain consent: Tea Consent. Basically it boils down (tea pun intended) to if someone doesn’t want a cup of tea or is unable to drink a cup of tea, then don’t force them to have the cup of tea. This is a brilliant allegory to help explain the sometimes awkward topic of consent. The witty humor and lovably bad animation make this topic much easier to talk about to young adults. If you have never seen it: voilá. Be warned though, it does swear toward the beginning, however there are cleaner versions out there.

This video is SO important to teaching the idea that only YES means YES, and just because a person cannot explicitly say NO does not mean that they say YES. Thank you so much to the wonderful people at Blue Seat Studios who created this glorious piece of filmmaking, for spreading the word and I hope everyone reading this will carry the message on with them!