Got Consent is a student-led initiative aiming to raise awareness of sexual misconduct, educate students in bystander intervention and support survivors. It is part of StAnd Together, an initiative connected to both the Students’ Association and the University’s Student Services that focuses on student wellbeing and mutual support. Got Consent leads conversations with fellow students through training workshops, informational resources, and educational events.
What is Consent?
Consent is freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, and specific (FRIES).
- Freely given means no one is coerced, pressured, or manipulated into agreeing to something they don’t want to do.
- Reversible means consent can be revoked at any time.
- Informed means everyone deserves to know all of the relevant information before making a decision to do something (i.e. sexual health status, use of contraception or birth control).
- Enthusiastic means everyone involved should be excited about the activities, not hesitant or stressed. Notice people’s body language as well as what they say.
- Specific means a person must consent to the specific activity happening, every single time—there is no ‘blanket consent’ beyond the specific activity consented to.
If you are at all confused about affirmative consent and how to make sure you have it at all times, stop and educate yourself—you can use these resources to better your understanding,sign up to attend one of our training workshops or give us a message.
Training Workshops
GotConsent run workshops relating to how bystander intervention can help others in various contexts relating to consent and harassment. In 2021, Student Council members of the Students’ Association voted for GotConsent Leadership Workshops to become mandatory for Union and Athletic Union affiliation.
This workshop describes how leaders have a duty of care for their members, meaning it is their responsibility to create and uphold an open and healthy environment. This includes not forcing people to do things they do not want to do (i.e. drinking alcohol), have resources available to people should they need specific forms of support and making it clear there is a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and violence.Our workshops are discussion-based and include tips on safely intervening if you see a situation that could turn into sexual assault.
If you are a group, society, or club interested in having a Got Consent workshop please feel free to email us: [email protected].
We are prepared to run both in-person and online workshops, so all students are able to attend.
We have also developed several new discussion-based workshops that individuals or groups can sign up to that focus on more specific topics, such as domestic violence; healthy relationships; consent online, toxic masculinity; and intersections of race, sexuality and disability when it comes to sexual assault and harassment. Keep an eye out on our social media pages to hear about any new workshops we hope to launch this coming semester.
Projects & Events
GotConsent is part of Fife Council’s Violence Against Women Partnership (VAWP). This involves various representatives from Fife Council, NHS, Police Scotland and other community organisations, with an aim to continue the message of the Equally Safe group and provide county-wide resources and awareness.
As part of the VAWP, we ran an exhibition in March 2022 called “What Were You Wearing?”, which displayed the types of clothing that were worn by survivors at the time of their assault, alongside their testimonies. As part of the exhibition, we gave two workshops to senior pupils from local secondary school, Madras College. This is a partnership we hope to continue as the exhibition continues to travel around Fife in the years to come.
The ‘What Were You Wearing?’ exhibition was also featured on Tay FM radio and STV News.
We are very proud to have successfully made a consent module a mandatory step of online student matriculation from 2020. Members of our committee continue to work alongside the University in annual reviews and updates to the module.
We run a variety of events throughout the year: discussion events with external or internal speakers; film screenings; coffee mornings; open workshops; Sexual Assault Awareness Month events; Reclaim the Night events; and more.
Get Involved
Are you passionate about consent education and tackling SGBV issues? We are currently recruiting a few members to sit as general members on the Got Consent committee. Responsibilities include: attending weekly meetings, admin tasks, workshop development, and supporting other committee members with their current projects. The application is open to anyone, including if you are already a GotConsent volunteer, and we will continue accepting applications on a rolling basis-- fill out this application form if you're interested in getting involved! If you have any questions about the role please reach out to [email protected]
We recruit new volunteers at the start of every semester, so look out for our next recruitment cycle if you’re interested in applying. Being a volunteer is an amazing way to learn more about sexual and gender-based violence, to improve discussion and leadership skills, and to help make St Andrews a safer place by educating your peers.
Volunteers are given extensive training on the content of our workshops as well as how to run and guide workshop discussions. You will also always be paired with a more experienced facilitator for your first few sessions, until you feel comfortable.
Contact
Resources
Consent & Sexual Health
- Cycling Through Consent – video by Western University demonstrating consent through a bicycle analogy.
- Planned Parenthood’s ‘Sexual Consent’ page.
- Brook has information and advice for a range of topics related to sexual health and wellbeing, including extensive guides on consent.
- Sexual Health Fife offers telephone advice and video consultations. You can reach them at 01592 64 7979, Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 4pm.
Sexual Assault
- The University's Report + Support hub lets you report sexual misconduct, or other forms of non-academic misconduct, either anonymously or with contact details, and lays out the range of support available.
- Fife Rape and Sexual Assault Centre (FRASAC) provides information, advice and support through their website, counselling, and other services.
- Sexual Assault Referral Network (SARN) offers forensic exams after sexual assault without having to go through the police.
- You can report an incident of sexual violence anonymously to CrimeStoppers, online or by calling 0800 555 111.
- Find a comprehensive list of support resources on the Sexual Misconduct webpage if you have experienced sexual assault or harassment.
- Scottish government’s ‘Information and help after sexual assault’ guide.
- Survivors UK provides counselling and helpline services for men affected by sexual violence.
- LGBT Domestic Abuse Scotland provides advice, info and support through their website.
- You can also access support through the Galop National LGBT Domestic Abuse helpline, by calling 0800 999 5428 from Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm, or Wednesday to Thursday 10am – 8pm, or emailing [email protected].
- Rape Crisis Scotland produced a video Guide to the Scottish Justice System.
Supporting Someone Else