Government pulls ‘bizarre’ milkshake consent video

The federal government has removed two videos from its $3.7m ‘Respect Matters’ campaign after they were lambasted by critics.

The government’s new consent education campaign for schools featured a bizarre video of a woman smearing a man’s face with a milkshake.

The federal government has removed two controversial videos from its new $3.7m “Respect Matters” campaign after they were lambasted by critics as “bizarre” representations of modern consent among schoolchildren.

The two videos were removed this afternoon when the Department of Education released a statement, saying “community and stakeholder feedback” had caused the department to reconsider the quality of some of its educational material.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge and Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston this month launched The Good Society website, containing 350 videos, stories, and other materials aimed at teachers, students and families in a bid to improve the way consent is taught in schools.

Some of the videos include a woman wiping a milkshake over a man’s face, a woman concerned about swimming in a beach for fear of sharks, a woman compromising eating pizza for dinner and another man eating tacos to explain sexual assault.

In one of the videos, a boy and girl are shown drinking and talking about milkshakes before the girl suddenly splashes the milkshake across the boy’s face.

“This is what we call moving the line,” the narrator says.

“When a person imposes their will on you, it‘s as if they were moving the ’yes’ line over the ‘maybe zone’ or the ‘end zone’, ignoring your rich inner world and violating your individual freedoms and rights.”

“Moving the line is at least disrespectful and at worst abusive.”

The initiative was launched after consent activist Chanel Contos reignited debate about the need for better-informed sexual education in schools after she made a petition which garnered thousands of testimonies from school girls sharing stories about sexual assault by their male peers.

Ms Contos said she was “genuinely confused” after watching the new resources, criticising the federal government for underestimating the intelligence of young people.

“You can’t teach sex talking about the birds and the bees, and you can’t teach consent talking about milkshakes,” she said.

“If we’re trying to equip youth to deal with these situations, we need to use real world examples, showing things they could see in their everyday lives and relate to.”

“The government needs to speak to young people, to learn what these phrases are and teach them how healthy conversations can go by using the language they use.”

Ms Contos said the videos could further taboo the topic of sex and consent, compounding the problem it is trying to solve.

End Rape on Campus founder Sharna Bremner said another major concern was that the videos fail to meet the National Standards for Prevention of Sexual Violence, by not addressing the fundamental cause of sexual violence.

“These videos insinuate that sexual assault and harassment are a problem of miscommunication,” Ms Bremner said. “It doesn’t address gendered violence, there’s no gender analysis, or addressing why it might be occurring in the first place.”

“There is some good content, but it gets lost behind these bizarre videos that rely on strange metaphors.”

Ms Bremner also pointed out that the website fails to equip victims with safe ways to report an assault, and instead directs people to report violations to the Australian Human Rights Commission who are not responsible.

“It is really worrying. If you’re giving a young person the wrong information, they may assume it’s their only option and then they might never report again.”

The Department of Education said the content will be optional leaving it up to teachers and schools to decide which resources are appropriate for their use.

“Community members, teachers, and school leaders were also consulted to ensure the content was engaging for students and consistent with community standards,” a spokesperson said.

“The Department of Education, Skills and Employment will continue to work with experts and stakeholders to update and refine content as required.“

Australian of the Year Grace Tame said the video “insulted everyone’s intelligence”.

“It minimises the experience of rape trauma and fails to address the nuances of the complex issue of consent.”

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek dismissed the video and the campaign as a wasted opportunity for the government to enact genuine change, saying: “This is a moment in Australian history where people are crying out for better consent education for our young people and across our community.”

“But once again we have a government with an advertising-led response and they haven‘t got the advertising right.”

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino also joined in the chorus of criticism, saying: “I certainly won’t be recommending schools use that resource in Victoria”.

“It was all over the place. I watched it again just to confirm in my mind how bad it was and I had to stop watching it. It was just terrible.”

Following the removal of the two videos, a statement from the Department of Education read: “The Department will continue to engage with experts to evaluate the materials that appear on the website to ensure they are fit for purpose and reflect current experiences and community issues.”