Strength TogetHER 10- Session 7
Strength togetHER is a safe virtual space where girls from different backgrounds come together and share their stories. We believe in rising ourselves by lifting up others. We walk with the motto of “girls supporting girl”.
On the evening of 8th of April 2021, we talked about ‘Consent’ and how it comes in various layers other than the mostly talked sexual consent. Our topic for the session was, “NO is a full sentence”.
Our session was moderated by Pratikshya Rajopadhyay who is a mental health advocate and practitioner who's passionate about inclusive mental health education, self-love and body positivity. She recently completed her post-graduate degree in counseling psychology. She's a writer and a feminist and believes in the power of storytelling and radical empathy to bring social change.
The moderator asked us a question in the very beginning of her feedback that awestruck us. It was “How do you set a boundary?”
This question answered our consensual boundary as something that we only tend to set after the happening of any incident but the setting a boundary for oneself beforehand is so much necessary and important. In most cases, we don’t tend to set boundary for ourselves because we don’t really see its impact or even if we do, we do it after something has happened which is not really effective as the events have occurred once.
The session that began with such an insightful event revolve around participants sharing stories that have happened in their lives. We talked about consent not only in sexual terms but also in each and every aspects and events that requires consent of the other person. We often do not ask our friends and family before taking their pictures or videos which doesn’t seem like a big deal but what if the other person don’t want to be filmed?
As a child, we were caresses by adults but now we as a n adult needs to understand that we cannot kiss or hug a child if they’re against it saying NO. We have heard and seen so many times that once a person says NO, it can be changed into YES by multiple times asking and convincing for it but that’s totally a wrong thing to do. In most social media content we see the scenario of CONSENT presented in sexual relationships only but it is vast than that and should be applied in every steps of our lives that affects the other person.
We concluded the session with a interesting lessons and insightful feedbacks that a child should be given a platform to understand the importance of consent since their early development phase. We as adults should be more cautious regarding thus sensitive topic rather than ignoring it as something not much impactful.
Acknowledging the wrong side of anything and improving it is a much better learning and the process of unlearning should also be equally valued.
This blog is written by Samikshya Aryal, an undergraduate student of Bachelors in Development Studies who identifies as a feminist. She has developed a keen interest in literature and is an aspiring poet. Besides an avid reader and enthusiastic learner, she wants to travel as much.
-Samikshya Aryal, Cohort Coordinator (LOKOPAKAR)
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