The Department of Education investigated 150 claims of sexual violence at elementary and high schools last year — a jump of more than 500 percent from just three years before.
Now, the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have reignited a partisan debate about how young people navigate consent. The first woman to accuse Kavanaugh said he tried to take her clothes off at a party back in the 1980s, when the two were in high school.
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But changing the culture of sexual assault requires changing students’ attitudes about sex — and consent.
Hundreds of colleges have already instituted “affirmative consent” policies, which set out the rule that “yes means yes” for sex. Certain sex ed classes for high school students have also tried to incorporate the idea, in the hopes that early education could prevent later issues.
In Chicago, two community activists are asking young men to reexamine harmful notions of traditional masculinity with the program “Options for Youth.” VICE News attended one of their sessions to find out how high schoolers talk about sex in the #MeToo era.
This segment originally aired September 24, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
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