Everyone has seen those advertisements that show famous Hollywood actors repeating the “one out of six” phrase that refers to the 17.7 million American women who have experienced attempted or completed rape.  This number faces a tragic increase to one in four on college campuses. 

Female college students today are three times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network [RAINN]. This issue is undermined when student reporters use their power of the press to bemoan the necessity of “consent lessons” on college campuses.

Warwick University student and senior reporter for The Tab George Lawlor wrote a personal piece regarding his displeasure with the idea of taking “consent lessons” on his college campus. Lawlor said “I feel as if I’m taking the ‘wrong’ side here, but someone has to say it — I don’t have to be taught to not be a rapist.”

But we must make a clear distinction here: consent lessons do not teach how not to be a rapist.  Rather, they ensure that people understand the clear, defined line between consent and rape in the midst of blurred situations. 

The issue I have with Lawlor’s argument is that he was not summoned by the university to attend this lesson. Lawlor was not singled out because he was male and possibly an attacker, he was simply invited to an event over Facebook, one which strove to create an open dialogue about sexual assault.

Lawlor described the anger he felt by saying how the invite was a “massive, painful, bitchy slap in the face.” However, I feel as though the person who invited him to go probably only intended have an intellectual conversation over a pressing issue. 

I invite most of my friends on Facebook to like groups I am in or to be a part of events I am passionate about all of the time, and I never intend for those events to be a way of singling someone out.

With the British radio news station Metro, Lawlor said that because he already knows rape is wrong, the attempts to educate him on consent were “wasted.” 

Lawlor also made rather large accusations by stating that men like him, who come from a “privileged, white, middle- class lifestyle” are just “not what [rapists look] like.”

If Lawlor had attended the event or even just declined it and looked up information on rape and sexual assault, he would know that he is wrong on this point as well. According to RAINN, 52 percent of rapists are white. Though I understand that his article was opinion based, the majority of what he said about consent was wrong and ignorant.

For example, in order to justify his stance, Lawlor went on in his piece to say how he understood the lines of consent and that any “empathetic human being does.” But I find that any empathetic human being would have understood the importance of such an event. Lawlor chose to complain about the event instead. Lawlor also goes on to say how he knows that “yes means yes, no means no,” but if he had gone to the event, he may have learned that sometimes even silence is a ‘no.’ 

It is an active choice to attend events about important issues like sexual assault and rape. But complaining on the internet with little facts to support your opinion can affect others negatively. Someone who knows very little about consent could have read his article and used it as an excuse to never learn.  

By telling the world that he knows all about consent and implying that most privileged, white males understand too and thus don’t need consent lessons, Lawlor ultimately perpetuates the idea that consent doesn’t need to be talked about and learned. 

But discussing consent and learning about what an enthusiastic yes means in regard to sexual relations is essential in preventing rape and lowering sexual assault attacks.