How To Get High Schoolers To Rethink Sexual Consent And Assault (HBO)

The first woman to accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault says the event happened at a party back in the 1980's, when they were high school classmates. With the fate of his confirmation potentially hinging on her testimony, a partisan debate is raging, raising questions about how young people navigate consent.

Last year, the Department of Education investigated 150 claims of sexual violence at elementary and high schools — a jump of more than 500 percent from just three years before.

Changing that may require changing students' attitudes — particularly how kids think of consent.

Hundreds of colleges have instituted "affirmative consent" policies on campus, setting out the rule that "yes means yes" when it comes to sex. This concept is also being incorporated into certain sex ed classes for high school students, in the hopes that early education could prevent later issues.

In Chicago, two community activists with the program "Options for Youth" are bringing that idea classroom to classroom, and asking young men to reexamine harmful notions of traditional masculinity. VICE News attended one of their sessions to find out how high schoolers talk about sex in the post-#MeToo era.

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