Artist duo Hannah Brancato and Rebecca Nagle taught students how to embrace and encourage consent at FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture through Art workshop at Stamp Student Union this Wednesday.
Based in Baltimore, the duo’s organization, FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, is “a creative activist collaboration to upset the culture of rape and promote a culture of consent,” according to their website.
Over 20 people attended the event, which included games, quizzes, and discussions about consent.
“I attended because I believe it’s an extremely important dialogue that needs to be happening,” said senior Japanese major Saria Rudolph.
The event kicked off with what they called the “Stand Up, Sit Down” game. Brancato read statements such as “stand up if you have ever been sexually harassed.” If the statement was true, attendees would stand. If it was false, they would stay seated.Â
This game made it clear that most attendees had faced rape culture in some way and many of them thought rape would continue to happen no matter what.
A lot of people think “rape is just the way things are,” but there are ways to stop it from happening, Nagle said.
On a slideshow, Brancato and Nagle defined consent as “a verbal agreement.” Consent is about “how and when people are comfortable with sexual acts,” which includes everything from kissing to having sex, they said.
Consent doesn’t stop you from having sex, it helps everyone get more of what they want, said Nagle.
The second game attendees played was “Saying No.” Nagle instructed everyone to get a partner and ask each other questions. The catch was that the only answer anyone could say was “no”.Â
The questions could be anything from serious to silly. Giggles permeated the room as attendees asked questions like “do you love your mother?” and “do you think I’m a nice person?”
When time was up, Nagle asked everyone about their thoughts on the game.
“It was really liberating to say no,” said senior neurobiology and physiology major Nancy Fonkoua.
“It’s okay to say no and it’s okay to hear no,” Nagle said.
Brancato and Nagle discussed some of the consent projects, several of which have garnered national attention.Â
Their first venture was their 2012 Pink Loves Consent campaign in which they created a spoof Victoria’s Secret website that had messages of consent on their underwear. The campaign went viral and tweets with their hashtag #loveconsent trended along with tweets about the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Brancato and Nagle said they were excited to see that their campaign raised awareness about rape culture and consent.
In 2013, FORCE once again made a spoof website, this time copying Playboy’s annual article on the top party schools in the United States, with Top Ten Party Commandments: The Ultimate Guide to a Consensual Good Time. FORCE followed up their successful prank with an online magazine about consent.
Brancato and Nagle also discussed the Monument Quilt Project, a collection of quilt squares sharing stories from survivors of rape and abuse. Sections of the quilt have been displayed across the country, including Oklahoma and Utah.
“I really liked the methods that they spoke about,” Rudolph said. “For example, their timing with their tweets to bring awareness to the importance of consent.”
The event ended with t-shirt making: attendees were provided with plain t-shirts and stencils promoting consent.
You can get involved with FORCE or the Monument Quilt project by visiting their websites: http://upsettingrapeculture.com/ and https://themonumentquilt.org/