Students take consent education to Milan 

Let’s Talk Consent founders Jasmine Gray, Laura Porteous, and recent graduate Genna Hawkins-Boulton

25 June 2023

The founders of Let’s Talk Consent, a social enterprise designed to catalyse change in the area of sexual harm, are sharing their project at a youth forum in Milan this month. 

With rape and sexual violence regularly in New Zealand news headlines, the value of consent education cannot be underestimated, say the founders of Let’s Talk Consent. 

University of Auckland students Jasmine Gray, Laura Porteous, and recent graduate Genna Hawkins-Boulton travel to Milan this month to share their mahi around consent education and compete in the inaugural Sustainability Impact Forum, hosted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. 

The Let’s Talk Consent team will present their social enterprise to more than 400 other youth leaders and international organisations. They also have the opportunity to attend workshops and conferences related to sustainability, management, planning and strategic development for global change. 

“It will be amazing to connect with global leaders and youth networks,” says Laura. “We’re looking forward to inspiring other young people to look at their education systems around consent, to identify what can be improved and to push for it.” 

In New Zealand, some schools have comprehensive education programmes on consent and preventing sexual harm, says Genna. However, other schools have absolutely nothing. 

“Unlike Australia, we don’t have a mandatory requirement for schools to teach consent. We’re working to change this while bringing attention to Aotearoa’s epidemic of sexual harm.” 

Genna, who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Jasmine who is in her final year of a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Global Studies and Laura, who is also in the last year of a conjoint degree in Global Studies and Commerce, created Let’s Talk Consent as a way to catalyse change in the area of sexual harm by utilising their combined passions for social advocacy, filmmaking, media and communications. 

This June marks one year since Genna started a campaign to make consent education in schools compulsory. As part of her efforts, Genna, a survivor of sexual assault, collected approximately 300 anonymous testimonies from young people around the country concerning their experiences of sexual harm and education. 

“From those testimonies, and the advocacy work I was doing, I realised there was a gap in the market for an organisation that connects and brings awareness to youth, policymakers, teachers and politicians, and that’s how the idea for Let’s Talk Consent came about.” 

Genna, who initially thought about developing the concept as a production company to tell the stories of young people who had experienced sexual harm, was encouraged to apply for the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2022. The business planning competition is delivered as part of the wider Velocity entrepreneurship development programme delivered by the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

She connected with Laura and Jasmine, who each brought expertise to the table in the form of business, humanitarian, and media acumen, and the Velocity Challenge process helped the trio solidify their goals and consider how best to grow their venture. 

They won the social enterprise award and came away with $5,000 seed capital to support their endeavour, as well as six months of support in the form of mentoring, a workspace, and a stipend thanks to the VentureLab incubator programme. 

“Thanks to the Velocity Challenge and the support we received to develop our skills, the idea grew from a small production company into a social enterprise, and we started to think about becoming more sustainable long-term,” says Genna. 

Since then, the founders have worked to challenge rape culture and prevent sexual harm by creating training and accreditation programmes for businesses regarding consent culture. 

They have also soft-launched their social media presence and are developing consent-related resources and workshops for businesses, parents, caregivers and educators. 

“Some people might think this kind of education is inappropriate or that it’s solely the job of the family, but many families won’t have these conversations with their young people, whether it’s because they don’t want to, don’t know how, or have never been taught consent themselves,” says Jasmine. 

“We want to equip people with resources and knowledge so that they feel comfortable having those conversations with their children. If we’re not taught these things when we’re young, there’s a lack of knowledge that could lead to harm.”