#getconsent: addressing sexual violence
Dr Katharine Jenkins, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities
Dr Jenkins researches the politics of gender, transgender rights, sexual violence and violence against women. Through an Impact Case Study, she launched the Consent Coalition with local partners in Nottingham, the Nottingham City Council, Nottingham Trent University, the Police, Rape Crisis, the Sexual Assault helpline. The Consent Coalition works to improve the understanding of consent, challenge sexual violence in Nottingham, and encourage survivors and victims to access support and report any sexual violence. The #getconsent campaign was launched to send a strong message that Nottingham does not tolerate any kind of sexual violence, to expose and challenge rape myths, to increase empathy towards survivors of sexual violence, to promote healthy and equal relationships, to prevent misogyny and sexual harassment, and to challenge ‘lad culture’. The outputs were “Do you know” flyers which went up in all the halls of residence at NTU with some, but less visibility, at UoN, and the publication and distribution of “Your Journey”, a guide to support and to reporting for victims of sexual violence. The Director of Public Prosecutions came to UoN to launch “Your Journey”, highly commending this intervention.
Dr Jenkins points out that she was only able to undertake this initiative because of an extra semester of research leave granted by the Department of Philosophy for this project. Dr Jenkins left UoN in June 2020. She is mindful of countless crises in Nottingham city and nationally which would benefit from the research capital of UoN across Faculties and she hopes that her know how gathered while working in partnership with local authorities in Nottingham and with Parliament (see her contribution to LGBT+ policy) and in terms of tailoring her academic knowledge to respond to and solve societal crises can be handed over. There is a need to collect and harness the institutional memory of UoN in the field of EDI policy under one aegis.
Dr Jenkins’ work addresses the Parliamentary priority of reducing sexual violence against girls and women.