When should we start educating on consent?

[YogiGirl]

I’ve just heard that Queensland is starting consent education from age 10. What do you think? I believe the more open conversations the better. But equally, I don’t know how old you are to get sex education in school. Anyone know the usual time to start talking sex?? I suppose consent comes in to everything we do, not just relationships, so it’s an important conversation to have.

[tea]

How old is it normally @yogigirl? I started learning about consent through sex ed class in primary school, I think I was 10 or 11? This was in Western Australia though and I imagine every state has their own “this is when you can learn about consent” starting age.

There’s this mum on Instagram I follow who started teaching her kids about consent and sex when they first because curious about that kind of conversation. I think they were maybe 5 or 6? Talking about things in an age appropriate way is the important thing, I don’t think there’s any age ‘too young’ to learn.

[champagnepapi]

oh man, I wish I was taught this early. Much earlier than sex ed even. I think part of the reason I find it hard to assert my boundaries when I’m in a relationship and I don’t really like something the other person is doing is because I wasn’t taught from an early age that it is very okay to say no and to take up space when you do so.

[YogiGirl]

I’m not 100% on the age before @tea, but it looks like the idea is that consent ed will be mandatory…so maybe before it was dependant on the school?

I agree, there’s no ‘too young’ when it comes to consent. I think on any topic the more understanding the better, so as we are exposed to different situations we can make an informed decision.

[champagnepapi]

I think there’s a huge need to create educational resources that cater to individuals at any life stage/age/level of understanding. I really like the Dutch approach to sex & consent education in general, where they start as early as 4 years old and learn broad topics like respecting themselves and others’ sexuality. This will take some policy reform work in Australia though!

[Author]

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