Promoting Consent (Follow On Funding for Impact and Engagement for "The Ethics of Communicating Consent")

The project will spread knowledge of two key points of completed research:

(A) Consent can be communicated in a multitude of ways: it can be communicated verbally or non-verbally; it can be communicated through conventional forms or non-conventionally. In principle, any mode of communication is appropriate so long as it has the outcome that the audience must gain sufficient evidence about what the speaker means. In this way, the ethical norms for clear communication can be explained in terms of a required threshold for evidence.

(B) Intoxication undermines the audience's ability to interpret, and/or the speaker's ability to express themselves. Consequently, it impairs the audience's evidence about what the speaker means. In light of the previous point communication, this constitutes a neglected ethical role for intoxication. To date, the philosophical literature has only focused on how it impairs decision-making; the research makes the novel contribution that it also affects communication and evidence. In short, intoxication does not simply limit us as agents; it also limits us as communicators and knowers.

To spread this knowledge, the project will produce the following original animated videos:

(1) Two six-minute animated lectures. For both (A) and (B), I will create and record two lectures that are suitable to those with no prior acquaintance with philosophy. I will collaborate with Wireless Philosophy (Wi-Phi) to create animated lectures on the basis of these recordings. Wi-Phi is a non-profit open-access philosophy website that aims to "introduce people to the practice of philosophy by making videos that are freely available in a form that is entertaining." Its contributors include field-leaders at universities such as Columbia University, Cornell University, MIT, Stanford University, and Yale University. The popular free non-profit educational organisation Khan Academy uses their videos in its philosophy courses. They have produced 145 videos thus far, with a total of more than 7,000,000 views and an average of 300,000 - 500,000 views per month.

(2). Two-minute animated film. On the basis of my lecture for (A), I will collaborate with Blue Seat Studios to create an animated film that expresses the central ideas of my research. Blue Seat Studios produce animated films and are committed to educating people of all ages about consent using humour and accessible animation. Their most relevant creative output is the 3-minute animated film, "Tea and Consent," which was widely disseminated by social media, has received over 7,000,000 views on YouTube, and was used by Thames Valley Police and Somerset and Avon Rape & Sexual Abuse Support.

(3). One-minute animated poem. On the basis of my lecture for (B), I will collaborate with Sabrina Mahfouz to create a poem that expresses the central ideas of my research. Ms. Mahfouz will record a performance of the poem and I will collaborate with Blue Seat Studios to create accompanying animation. Sabrina Mahfouz is a critically acclaimed poet, playwright and screenwriter. She has published a full poetry collection, and produced a TV short with BBC3 & BBC Drama. She has collaborated with the V&A Museum, Royal Opera House, Bush Theatre. Her plays have won multiple awards, and she has been the Sky Arts Academy Scholar for Poetry, Leverhulme Playwright in Residence and Associate Artist at Bush Theatre. Her most relevant creative output is a one-minute spoken word poem commissioned by Oxfam GB for their 2016 Christmas campaign.

These films will be freely available to the public through the free online video-sharing websites, YouTube and Vimeo. I will ensure that this availability continues for 10 years beyond the end of the project.

In general terms, the impact of my research will be to reduce confusion and ignorance about sexual consent, especially in young people. In 2013, the Office for Children's Commissioner found that many English teenagers misinterpreted various behaviours as indicating consent, including sending sexual images by phone, failing to say "no," and wearing certain forms of clothing. The report recommends that educational outreach focuses on the idea that getting consent is as important as giving consent, applying ideas about consent to real life situations and positive and active communication that goes beyond expecting partners to 'say no.' It notes that 138 out of 497 children interviewed thought that consent was possible with a partner who was passed out drunk.

I will achieve this general impact through specifically targeting three non-academic sets of beneficiaries.

(1) The general public will benefit from the content of philosophical research being freely available in an accessible format. I will create videos with a content that does not presuppose any prior acquaintance with philosophy. I will collaborate with organisations in the creative industries to ensure that the videos are engaging by combining animation, art and humour. I will maximise the dissemination of this research by creating lectures with an open access philosophy website that enjoys 300,000 views per month for its videos.

(2) In secondary and tertiary level education, consent educators will benefit from using a new resource with which to develop and implement sex and relationships education and university consent seminars. This objective will include both UK and US education. At the end of 2016, Justine Greening, the UK's education secretary, announced reforms will make sex and relationships education compulsory in all secondary education and for consent to be a focal point of this education, while in UK universities, undergraduate-led consent workshops are increasingly popular. In the US, over 1,400 universities have modified their campus codes to adopt an affirmative consent definition in response to federal policies that began in 2011, and secondary level educators are developing curricula to prepare their students in light of this. Through combining philosophical research with engaging creative media, I will create videos that educators can use in classes, e.g. by directly spreading knowledge of consent or to provide conversation-starters for class discussion.

(3) Consent campaigners will benefit by using a new resource as part of their campaigns to raise awareness about sexual consent. Stakeholders that have expressed a need for these resources, include sexual assault and rape charities, and sexual health and well-being charities. I will create videos that these campaigners can embed in online campaign materials. By incorporating animation and art, the videos will help these campaigners to publicise sexual consent in an engaging way.