Making consent common sense

Sexual harassment and assault remain widespread. Between a general lack of comprehensive education and gender framing consent as “women’s issue” a few of us were frustrated with these inadequate approaches to consent. We believed that we could use creative solutions to reframe the entire construct of consent conversations, ultimately making it common sense. Consent becomes particularly problematic when public revelry (and alcohol) blurs the boundaries.

Music festival attendees often connect to WiFi and leave AirDrop on in order to share through social media and grab new festival content. So we used AirDrop at Coachella to create a unique experience that spread awareness of the issue in the moment and served as a real-life demonstration. We dropped “Consent Cards” directly onto people’s phones right from within the crowd. Just like consensual hook ups, and true to AirDrop’s features, anyone with an iPhone could accept or decline our Consent Cards, which encouraged people to share their own boundaries. People could AirDrop our cards to others, as the Consent Drop experiment brought people together to talk about consent. As our Consent Cards sparked conversations among festivalgoers, our team was on the ground documenting reactions.

We’ve forged partnerships with some of the most influential anti-sexual violence organizations including RAINN, No More, A Call to Men, and with brand partners like The Drum, The Female Quotient, and SAP Next Gen. With the valuable support of these organizations, Let’s Get Consensual has launched a series of consent-awareness activations at industry events and festivals like the Cannes Lion Festival, Lollapalooza, Coachella, and San Francisco Pride. Let’s Get Consensual has also created an educational program for schools designed to make students advocates for each other at an early age.