A couple of Red Deer College nursing students are working to raise awareness on campus that when it comes to sexual consent there is no grey area.
Nursing students Ashlee Lemaire and Stephanie Price have partnered with the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre and the RDC Students Association for an upcoming event they have named GreyDay.
GreyDay as in there’s no grey area when it comes to consent. It’s yes or no — hence their slogan: “Consent, you have it or you don’t” and the social media hash tag “#nogreyarea”, Lemaire said Tuesday.
They have been talking to students and teachers to determine what the mindset and response is around sexual consent.
“It’s interesting. As soon as you ask somebody what their thoughts around consent and sexual assault are, a lot of people shut down and don’t want to talk about it. Even still, which is so surprising and unfortunate,” Lemaire said.
The purpose of this event is to not only bring awareness but to initiate change to the way sexual assault is viewed, removing the taboo and bringing attention to an issue ignored for too long, she said.
“If we talk about it, we can’t ignore it.”
GreyDay takes place at the college on March 30 from 11 am. to 2 p.m. There will be educational videos and posters, food and coffee, visual representations and demonstrations, as well as prizes.
They hope to run the awareness campaign again in the fall, and turn GreyDay into an annual event.