Got Consent?
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 Union and the University that focuses on student wellbeing and mutual support. Got Consent leads conversations with fellow students through training workshops, informationnal 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. Enthusiastic means everyone involved should be excited about the activities, not hesitant or stressed. 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, educate yourself—you can use these resources to better your understanding or sign up to attend one of our training workshops.
Training Workshops
Got Consent runs bystander intervention training. These short, discussion-based workshops teach students about consent, and how to keep each other safe on nights out. This includes 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 message GotConsent@st-andrews.ac.uk.
We are prepared to run both in-person and online workshops, so all students are able to attend.
Additionally, we offer a leadership version of the Got Consent training more aimed at intervention for those in leadership positions. This is ideal for committee members and those interested in an additional training style. Let us know through our email or message us on our Facebook page if you are interested.
We are currently working on several new discussion-based workshops that individuals can sign up to that focus on more specific topics such as domestic violence; healthy relationships; 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 the new workshops we hope to launch this coming autumn semester.
Projects & Events
GotConsent is part of the Fife Violence Against Women Partnership. This involves various representatives from Fife Council, NHS, Police Scotland and other community organisations, with an aim to continue the Equally Safe message and provide county-wide resources and awareness.
We are preparing to run an exhibition in Spring 2022 called “What were you wearing?”, which displays clothing worn by survivors at the time of their assault alongside testimonies. This is a long-standing project as we are also hoping to involve final year students at Madras College and run a workshop for them too.
We are very proud to have successfully made our 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
We have weekly meetings at 6pm on Tuesdays that are open to all. Come along and learn what we are up to! At the start of the semester we will publish the link to join the Microsoft Teams meeting on this page.
We recruit new volunteers at the start of every semester, so look out for our next recruitment cycle this autumn 2021 if you’re interested in applying. Being a volunteer is an amazing way to learn more about sex and gender-based violence, to improve discussion and leadership skills, and to help make St Andrews a safer place by educating your peers.
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.
- 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 help@galop.org.uk.
- 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.
- Rape Crisis Scotland produced a video Guide to the Scottish Justice System.
Supporting Someone Else