In September 2023, sexual consent advocate Chanel Contos’ game-changing book, Consent Laid Bare, exploded onto the Australian literary scene.
Upon release, she spoke about her book at sold-out events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide. Chanel was also a guest of her former school, UNSW, for a round table event with the UNSW Centre for Ideas alongside UNSW student activist and gendered violence researcher Angela Griffin, First Nations lead of the First National LGBT+ Sistergirls and Brotherboys experiences with sexual violence survey Vanessa Lee-Ah Mat, and Chair of national violence prevention foundation Our Watch Moo Baulch.
This powerful conversation, exploring how we can utilise holistic approaches to community care when it comes to gendered violence, is now available as a podcast.
Read more here.
The game-changing book about sex and consent that every woman – and man – should read
In 2021, Chanel Contos posted on Instagram asking people to share their stories of sexual assault during their schooling years. This post unexpectedly went viral and almost 7000 people sent in testimonies describing behaviour that constitutes rape. Virtually none of these instances were reported, and almost all of them were by people they knew.
How and why is this happening in an era of growing equality? Chanel Contos argues that when it comes to sex, we are still working with an outdated social contract that privileges men’s pleasure at the expense of women’s humanity.
Consent Laid Bare challenges the lingering inequality that reinforces this behaviour. It asks if consent is possible in a world where female sexuality has been hijacked by forces such as porn, patriarchy and male entitlement. It gives girls and women the encouragement to seek sex that is truly enjoyable and equips them with the information they need to properly consent. It asks boys and men to become advocates for sex centered around intimacy rather than fuelled by aggression.
It is a battle cry from a generation no longer prepared to stay silent.