#16DaysofActivism – Guest Blog – Ciaran Hughes

For me, consent is about personal safety and the understanding surrounding it. It’s also about choice. Consent only becomes an issue when a choice is taken away. The fundamentals of what is consensual and what isn’t never change. If someone says no, then that is what they mean. They don’t mean ‘a little bit’ and they don’t mean ‘only for a minute’. In the hyper socialised space that we now operate, consent sometimes gets in the way of ego. As a boy, and a man, consent was never something that was explicitly taught to me and for many it can become a vague concept that should or should not be adhered to. I believe this needs to change rapidly and we need to be taught not only what consent is, but how to practice it, with special attention on how to respect someone’s decision.

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