Police launch sexual consent campaign comparing rape to forcing people to drink cups of tea
'If you can understand how completely ludicrous it is to force people to have tea when they don’t want tea, then how hard is it to understand when it comes to sex?'
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A new police campaign on sexual consent is using tea as part of an analogy to describe assault and rape.
Thames Valley Police’s "Consent is Everything" drive includes a three-minute video showing stick figures making, drinking or refusing tea and forcing it down each other’s throats in different circumstances.
“If you’re still struggling with consent, just imagine that instead of initiating sex, you’re making them a cup of tea,” the voiceover says.
“You can make them a cup of tea but be aware that they might not drink it and if they don’t drink it - and this is the important bit - don’t make them drink it.
“And if they say ‘no thank you’, then don’t make them tea. At all. Just don’t make them tea. Don’t make them drink tea, don’t get annoyed at them for not wanting tea, they just don’t want tea, ok?”
After emphasising that even if people say yes to tea, they can change their mind, the video explores the issue with someone who passes out in the middle of tea-making.
“Unconscious people don’t want tea and they can’t answer the question ‘do you want tea?’ Because they are unconscious,” it continues.
“Ok, maybe they were conscious when you asked them if they wanted tea, and they said ‘yes’. But in the time it took you to boil the kettle, brew the tea and add the milk they are now unconscious.
“You should just put the tea down, make sure the unconscious person is safe and ... don’t make them drink the tea.”
Enforcing the point that consent on one occasion is not permanent, the video describes how saying yes to “tea around your house last Saturday” doesn’t mean they want hot drinks all week.
“If you can understand how completely ludicrous it is to force people to have tea when they don’t want tea, and you are able to understand when people don’t want tea, then how hard is it to understand when it comes to sex?” the voiceover concludes.
Consent: It’s as Simple as Tea was originally created by Blue Seat Studios and scripted by blogger Rockstar Dinosaur Pirate Princess.
Thames Valley Police launched the campaign on Tuesday with its specialist sexual violence prevention group and rape crisis centres in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Detective Chief Inspector Justin Fletcher said: “The law is very clear - sex without consent is rape … awareness of what sexual consent means and how to get it is vital.
“Together we can prevent rape by ensuring everyone knows when they have sexual consent – and when they do not.”
Christina Diamandopoulos, the co-director Rape Crisis in Wycombe, Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire, said that myths around a consent “grey area” had continued for too long.
“Confusion around consent has been the result of historical distortions,” she added.
“In reality it has never been a 'grey' area, and this campaign, which we are proud to be part of, makes that clear.”