Consent

Manchester Met and the Students’ Union strive to create an environment where students feel safe, respected and supported, and want to help students understand and practice consent to prevent sexual violence and harassment.

Consent Matters Training

Consent education is important in building healthy and respectful relationships. It’s best to ask first, every time. We expect all students to complete a free online course called ‘Consent Matters.’

The online course aims to make it easier for you to understand your boundaries and support your friends. It’s made up of three modules:

• Thinking about consent
• Communication skills and relationships
• Looking out for others

Accessing the course is easy, simply go to the Getting Ready to Learn area on Moodle. You can work through the modules one-by-one or do the whole course in one go, whatever works best for you.

What is sexual consent?

To consent to sex or sexual activity, a person must have the freedom and capacity to make the choice. Consent is necessary in all sexual activity.

Teaching people to acknowledge and respect other people’s personal boundaries can help create a society where no one feels ashamed to willingly engage in, or to reject, sexual activity.

The freedom to make the choice

Freedom means not being constrained in any way to agree to sex. If any kind of physical, emotional or psychological pressure, abuse or force is used to coerce someone to have sex then the person being coerced has lost their freedom of choice. In such a situation a person might say ‘yes’ to sex but do so out of fear.

The capacity to make the choice

Having capacity means the person can make and communicate a decision, understand the consequences and know they have a choice. If they cannot do this, they cannot give consent.

• Someone may not have sufficient capacity to give consent if they have been drinking or taking drugs.
• Someone does not have the capacity to consent if they are asleep or unconscious.
• By law, someone under the age of 16 does not have the capacity to consent to sex.
• Some people who have specific learning and processing related disabilities may find communicating consent a more complex task and may not be able to physically display enthusiasm.

Having conversations around how to communicate consent can help to make sure everyone involved is clear and comfortable.

Myths VS Facts

There are many misconceptions and myths about sexual violence, which create false ideas around the issue, instead of addressing the real sources of the problem:

Myth: Only women can get raped or sexually assaulted.

Fact: Whilst there are gendered dynamics to sexual violence that mean women and girls are disproportionately affected, it’s important to remember that anyone, of any gender can experience sexual violence and everyone is entitled to be believed and supported.

Myth: If you are drunk, under the influence of drugs, behaving flirtatiously or wearing provocative clothing then you are partly to blame for being sexually assaulted.

Fact: No matter what, none of the above gives someone the right or excuse to rape or sexually assault you. This myth blames victims or survivors for what has happened, and takes the blame away from perpetrators.

Myth: You cannot be raped or sexually assaulted when you are in a relationship.

Fact: Sexual assault and rape can take place within a marriage or relationship, when you have agreed to sex in the past, whether in a relationship between people of the same or different gender.

Myth: Most people are raped or sexually assaulted by strangers.

Fact: The vast majority of rapes and sexual assaults are committed by someone known to and trusted by the victim. Less than 10% of rapes and sexual assaults are committed by strangers.

Myth: It’s not rape or sexual assault if the victim or survivor didn’t say ‘no’ or struggle.

Fact: Rather than thinking “no means no”, we really should be thinking “only yes means yes”. Because anything less than a “yes” is not clearcut consent, and therefore if you’re in a situation where your partner doesn’t say yes or encourage you to continue, you should stop.

The University outlines its approach to sexual violence in the student code of conduct and you can read the procedure for students on disclosing and reporting incidents of sexual violence, misconduct and harassment. 

You can report an incident of sexual violence, harassment or misconduct online using the University’s Report + Support system. If you provide your contact details, a member of our Student Services team will be in touch within one working day to provide support and advice. You can also choose to report anonymously if you wish.

See the domestic violence and abuse or sexual violence pages for more information about these issues and the support available.