UK: "problematic" views on consent "rectalfied with mandatory consent classes"

[Zenaan Harkness]

New UK university students forced to take mandatory consent classes:

 - "you could harass someone even if you had no such intention"

 - "looking at someone could be rapeing them"

 - "it was a joke between me and my friend" is no exculpation for
   victims who are harassed by your words

 - "harassment is in the eyes of the accuser"

 - deviations from rigid view are "‘problematic’ view of consent that
   has to be rectified"


  Thought police on campus: What’s behind ‘consent classes’ at
  British universities
  https://www.rt.com/op-ed/470562-consent-classes-uk-universities/

  ... A handful of universities already demand that prospective
  students take an online consent course before enrolling. Should
  they fail to comply with this requirement, their application
  becomes void.

  ... For years activists have waged a scaremongering campaign to
  force universities to clamp down on an alleged epidemic of sexual
  harassment. Through the constant widening of the definition of
  harassment they have succeeded in creating the impression that
  universities are an unsafe place for women.

  Consent classes have been at the forefront of gaining acceptance of
  the myth of an epidemic of sexual harassment. Throughout the
  Anglo-American world, campaigners promote the message that “you
  could harass someone even if you had no such intention.”

  ... Take the UK’s National Union of Students Consent Workshop
  Facilitator Guide. It promises to provide a “safer space where
  people feel comfortable to explore topics, definitions and myths.”
  But the discussion it advocates, is anything but exploratory.

  ... it is something of a paradox that in many universities,
  advocates of consent workshops wish to make them compulsory for all
  students.

  Consent classes are about policing the thoughts and behavior of
  young people. They are also about gaining acceptance for the idea
  that universities are facing an epidemic of sexual harassment. That
  students have no choice but to submit to this myth turns the idea
  of consent on its head.

  By Professor Frank Furedi, sociologist and author. His book, ‘What
  Happened To The University’ is published by Routledge Press.