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Gender equality advocate Chanel Contos has blasted a consent app proposal as a ‘bad Band-Aid’ solution to sexual assault.
The former Kambala school student launched the Teach Us Consent petition on February 18 calling for a review in sexual assault education in Australian schools.
Ms Contos, a survivor of sexual assault, said NSW Commissioner Mick Fuller’s proposal for an app to determine if two people have given consent doesn’t tackle the root of the problem.
‘Consent can be taken back at any time, and an app couldn’t account for that,’ the 22-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.
Ms Contos, herself a survivor of sexual assault, said NSW Commissioner Mick Fuller’s proposal for an app to determine if two people have given consent doesn’t tackle the root of the problem
The former Kambala school student launched the Teach Us Consent petition on February 18 calling for a review in sexual assault education in Australian schools
‘It’s very reflective of how consent is seen; as a black and white thing. But consent isn’t a single sentence. It’s how people interact with each other as a whole.’
The time-consuming interface would require users to enter their name and age, declare they understand sexual consent, send a request and swipe to accept before any sexual activity can even begin.
The encrypted data is stored on the app in case it is needed for criminal inquiries, although experts have cast doubt on whether it would ever really be used in court.
Monash University Communications and Media Studies lecturer Dr Emily van der Nagel also raised doubts over the app.
‘This app is a bad idea that fails to solve the issues required to appropriately address sexual consent. It’s a concept designed to protect men, to alleviate them of blame and guilt,’ she said.
‘When what we need to be doing is ensuring men don’t sexually assault women in the first place.’
‘On social media, women are criticising the app as an inadequate response and are identifying many contexts in which it falls short. It’s disturbing that NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller doesn’t appear to have discussed the app with any women – only the Attorney-General Mark Speakman and Police Minister David Elliott.
Ms Contos raised questions over how the app would deal with parties who withdraw their consent
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has suggested the introduction of an app that can be used as proof of sexual consent
‘This incident reveals a culture of not listening to, or believing, women. That needs to change.’
NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong also criticised the proposal.
‘We need consent law reform, we need holistic consent education, we need to stop men feeling they are entitled to whatever they want, we need an independent complaints process, we need justice. We need equality. WE DO NOT NEED AN APP!!’ she tweeted on Thursday.
CEO of Women’s Safety NSW, Hayley Foster, said it was ‘fantastic’ that police were acknowledging the need for affirmative consent, but urged Mr Fuller to consider the evidence-based proposals she and her colleagues had been putting forward for years.
‘It’s another example of governments not listening to women’s safety services, women victim-survivors, women in general,’ she said. ‘It does feel a little disrespectful of our expertise.’
Ms Foster said that unless perpetrators were held to account in the justice system they will be free to continue offending.
NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong also criticised the app proposal, saying Australia needs consent law reforms and ‘holistic consent education’
At most, 1.5 per cent of sexual predators are held to account currently, she said.
Mr Fuller told the Today show on Thursday that 15,000 women in NSW reported sexual violence last year alone.
‘That’s increasing quicker than any other violent crime. So at the end of the day we can’t ignore the fact that consent is a big issue,’ he said.
‘In many of the cases of sexual violence often a woman has left a restaurant or a pub or a party with someone they think they can trust and sometimes these are friends, neighbours, relatives and they are impaired by alcohol or other substances and that in a way is being concluded by these offenders as consent.
‘You are much more vulnerable to get robbed or have any type of crime happen to you if you don’t have control and awareness of yourself because you are intoxicated.’
Mr Fuller said a consent app could be one of many solutions in curbing sexual violence in Australia.
‘If you are online or dating or looking for friendship you have to be up front with that in terms of what your expectations are from the relationship,’ he said.
‘This app or this concept of implied consent – whether it’s on an app or otherwise – it protects everybody. It’s not the entire solution but the reality is, consent is by far the biggest issue that we are facing.’
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