Consent & Healthy Relationships with Family Planning NZ

There’s consent and there’s sexual consent. Consent is permission for something to happen, or an arrangement. Whereas sexual consent is when both parties say “yes” to an activity, which in this context is sex. However, sexual consent is not a one-time agreement and you can change your mind about an activity. In healthy relationships, both partners need to be open and comfortable with communicating their preferences because sex without consent is not sex, it’s violence.

On the 10th of November we had the pleasure of having Alice from Family Planning NZ host 12 of our Tamaki community members. We learnt about how consent should be viewed, as well as a history of consent in New Zealand in terms of legislation. Informed true consent can be influenced by a myriad of different factors based on a person’s past experiences, their values and beliefs, mood, and power dynamics among others. Consent is built on a foundation of healthy relationships with other people. If we get our young people to understand healthy boundaries and clear communication with friends and family, it will teach them when moving into a romantic sense. This is because consent is something that we practice, not something we get once.

Healthy relationships in Tamaki is The HEART Movement’s Kaupapa. Working with the amazing people at Family Planning NZ who promote and encourage healthy relationships not only with others, but with ourselves is a joy. It’s tough work, but if at least one person walks away more informed then when they walked in and practice what was taught, that’s start of the wave that will cause real change in their community.