Sydney University students to be taught to obtain ‘enthusiastic yes’ before sex

Students at Sydney University will be taught to obtain an “enthusiastic yes” before they engage in sexual activity including kissing.

Charles Darwin University has released an online module on sexual consent, similar to the one being used at University of Sydney.

New students at Sydney University will be taught to obtain an “enthusiastic yes” before they engage in sexual activity such as kissing or touching on campus or it’s “sexual assault’’.

A mandatory online module has been introduced at the university, requiring students to achieve a 100 per cent score in order to pass the course, The Daily Telegraph reports today.

Complete with gendered stick figures arranged in a variety of positions, the Consent Matters: Boundaries, Respect and Positive Intervention module outlines the basics of sexual consent as well as factors that can impact on a student’s ability to gain consent, such as drug or ­alcohol use.

But the course, which is also offered at Charles Darwin University and ANU, has not ­impressed students and experts, who claim the exercise is “stupid” and would not adequately address problems with sexual harassment.

Another illustration from the course module on Charles Darwin University’s online course on sexual consent.

According to Sydney University’s website, the course was developed in a collaboration between British and Australian academics and involves interactive activities and scenarios that highlight the importance of consent when participating in “kissing and touching”.

“This means that everyone is entirely comfortable with the situation and freely able to agree, give permission or say ‘yes’ to participating in a sexual activity (this includes kissing and touching),” the website says.

“If someone is not able to offer an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to questions about sexual activity you do not have consent.”

Sexual assault expert and UNSW doctor of criminology Bianca Fileborn said one-off modules were rarely effective and should be part of a broader effort to address issues around sex and violence. “To expect one hour of online module is going to teach everything they know about consent is quite problematic,” she told The Telegraph.