Consent & prevention
Safety should not depend
on a perfect set of rules.
Prevention begins with respecting other people’s bodies and choices. Responsibility for abuse stays with the person who causes harm.
Consent is a conversation.
It must be freely given and ongoing. Ask, listen, and respect the answer. A relationship, a previous yes, or someone’s clothing is not permission.
A yes must be freely chosen.
Pressure, manipulation, threats, and repeated demands do not create meaningful agreement.
A person can change their mind.
Consent to one activity is not consent to another. If someone withdraws consent, stop.
Silence is not permission.
Don’t treat freezing, uncertainty, or a lack of resistance as agreement. Someone who is asleep, unconscious, or too intoxicated to consent cannot give consent.
Replace blame with accountability.
“Why did they go there?”
“Why did someone choose to violate their boundaries?”
No outfit, alcohol use, friendship, marriage, or family relationship excuses sexual violence. A survivor does not need to have fought back or immediately disclosed what happened to deserve support.
When someone tells you.
Listen without asking them to prove their experience. Let them set the pace. Ask what would be useful rather than deciding for them.
“I’m glad you told me. This wasn’t your fault. What would feel helpful right now?”
Offer to help find a trained advocate or accompany them if they want. Avoid pressuring them to report, confront someone, forgive, or share their story publicly.
RAINN’s guidance for supporters ↗Teach respect before harm happens.
Parents, coaches, educators, and peers can make boundaries and accountability part of everyday conversations. Boys need models of masculinity that do not depend on control or entitlement.
Coaching Boys Into Men, a program of Futures Without Violence, equips coaches to discuss respectful relationships with young male athletes.
Explore Coaching Boys Into Men ↗A next step, on your terms