A new study shows that a majority of UK students are on board with the introduction of a compulsory test on understanding sexual consent at the start of the university.
The new study, which was carried out by the Higher Education Policy Institute, surveyed 1,000 students found that 58 percent of students were behind the idea of introduction of the compulsory test that would try to determine if students fully understood sexual consent.
Sexual consent lessons
The study also found that only about 25 percent of students surveyed expressed confidence that they had been prepared on the sexual consent topic. The study also went further, as it tried to understand how different environments contributed to a misunderstanding of sexual consent.
They looked at instances where drugs and alcohol had been involved, to determine if judgement had been impaired. To no one’s surprise, the study found that when the two elements were introduced, the line of consent became blurred, noting that there were particular concerns of the study, where drugs and alcohol had been introduced.
The study also examined the stereotypes associated with higher education relationships and sex. It found that unlike the movies and other popular pop culture, where colleges and universities are portrayed as being hedonistic, that was not the case while looking at the data.
The study, for instance, found that 43 percent of students had not had sex before joining universities. It also found that 25 percent of students had also never kissed before admission to universities.
During their stay at school, the study found that 66 percent of male students had not had sex during their stay at the universities, whereas 53 percent of female students stated that they had not had sex during their stay at the university.
The study also found that two-thirds of the students were not in any relationship, with 11 percent of students deciding to voluntarily abstain from sex.
The study comes amidst a damaging report from the Everyone’s Invited website that showed that many of the sexual harassment cases submitted on the site had happened within universities.
According to the report, over 80 universities in the UK had been named, and victims had come forward anonymously sharing their tragic stories, and how their plights had not been addressed.
Upon the release of the report, many universities across the UK swang into action, releasing statements that showed concerns for the victims, while others played dumb and decided to not address the sexual assault issues directly.
