This event takes place on crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. Register here.
Charis welcomes Dr. Laura McGuire in conversation with Donna Freitas for a discussion of Creating Cultures of Consent: A Guide for Parents and Educators. With conversations about sexual violence, consent, and bodily autonomy dominating national conversations it can be easy to get lost in the onslaught of well-intended but often poorly executed messages. Through an exploration of research, scholarly expertise, and practical real-world application we can better formulate an understanding of what consent is, how we create consent cultures, and where the path forward lies.
This book is designed with both educators and parents in mind. The tools highlighted throughout help adults unlearn harmful narratives about consent, boundaries, and relationships so that they can begin their work internally through modeling and self-reflection. We then uncover what consent truly is and is not, how culture plays an integral role in interpersonal scripting, and how teaching consent as a life skill can look in and out of the classroom. By integrating the need for consent to be taught in schools and homes we build bridges between the spaces where children learn and create alliances in the often-daunting task of eradicating rape culture. This book is perfect for those already comfortable and familiar with this topic as well as those newer to understanding consent as a paradigm. Starting with a strong historical and research-informed foundation the book builds into action-oriented guidelines for conversations, curriculum, and community activism. This blended approach creates a guidebook that is unlike anything else on the market today.
Dr. Laura McGuire (they/she) is an internationally recognized consultant, survivor, researcher, seminarian, and author of the book Creating Cultures of Consent (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). They are a member of the American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), Society of Professional Consultants, and are a member of numerous boards and committees. They are a graduate of The National Leaders Council and are currently a fellow with the Institute for Social Innovation where they are researching sexual medicine competency in provider care. Dr. McGuire lives in the United States, where they work as a full-time consultant and expert witness at The National Center for Equity and Agency.
Donna Freitas has written more than twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction, for adults, children, and young adults. Among them are Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (Little, Brown, 2019), and Consent on Campus: A Manifesto (Oxford). Her debut novel for adults, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, which came out from Viking this April, will be published in 20 countries and languages over the course of this year. Donna has spoken at nearly two hundred colleges and universities about her nonfiction research and has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. She has appeared on radio and television, from NPR’s All Things Considered to The Today Show. She has been a professor at Boston University and Hofstra University and is currently a member of the faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s MFA program.
This event is free and open to all people, especially to those who have no income or low income right now, but we encourage and appreciate a solidarity donation in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Charis Circle's mission is to foster sustainable feminist communities, work for social justice, and encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/CharisCircle?code=chariscirclepage
We will be archiving this event and adding closed captioning as soon as possible after airing so that it will be accessible to deaf and HOH people. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org. We are actively learning the best practices for this technology and we welcome your feedback as we begin this new way of connecting across distances.
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A blended conversation for bringing consent education to the classroom and home.
In this "compelling and disturbing" true story (Rebecca Traister), a young woman's toxic mentor develops a dark, stalking obsession that disrupts her career -- and her peace of mind.Donna Freitas has lived two lives. In one life, she is a well-published author and respected scholar who has traveled around the country speaking about Title IX, consent, religion, and sex on college campuses.
A 2015 survey of twenty-seven elite colleges found that twenty-three percent of respondents reported personal experiences of sexual misconduct on their campuses. That figure has not changed since the 1980s, when people first began collecting data on sexual violence. What has changed is the level of attention that the American public is paying to these statistics.