Say YES to Consent

New Zealand has increasingly concerning rates of domestic and sexual abuse. Over one in four adults in New Zealand reported being a victim of at least one sexual abuse act and 55% of women have reported experiencing one or more types of abuse from an intimate partner. These stats are extreme cause for concern for the mental and physical well-being of the New Zealand population. One major thing that could be done to help decrease these stats that New Zealand isn’t doing is implementing mandatory consent education in schools. Currently, learning about sexuality and relationships are a mandatory part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum, while consent education is an optional section that schools can choose to educate their pupils on. However, we believe that if it was made mandatory, stats like those given above would be heavily decreased and less people would fall victim to sexual and domestic abuse.

If consent education is not made mandatory in New Zealand schools, more and more people will fall victim to these acts of violation. Making consent education mandatory in New Zealand schools from years 7-13 will allow the youth of New Zealand to be educated from a young age what is right and what is wrong when it comes to intimate relationships. This will give people an in-depth understanding of consent and how it is absolutely necessary in any and all intimate circumstances. By not implementing mandatory consent education, it will allow for more people to become victims of domestic and sexual violence and cause for our already horrific statistics to rise. 

Now is the time to act on this. This is a problem that has been ignored for far too long and has resulted in the destruction of the lives of many individuals in New Zealand and aiding in the decline of good mental health among New Zealanders. By signing this petition, you are helping New Zealand take a step in the right direction and potentially protecting the mental and physical health of many from being violated. Say YES to Consent. Make New Zealand a safer place for us all.