Affirmative consent bill should become priority

When the Affirmative consent bill was submitted at the Roundhouse in 2019, my eighth grade class unanimously decided that they wanted to lobby for this bill.

Some felt inequity in receiving affirmative consent education when thousands of their peers in New Mexico would not. Some felt fear that they developed standards for dating behavior that a future partner might not share. Some were terribly afraid of experiencing the trauma of sexual assault.

For each of them, passing universal affirmative consent education in New Mexico was the solution. They want to go to high school and college with people who ask about others’ boundaries. They want to date people who know how to determine if the other person wants the same things. They want to live in a world where sexual assault happens less because we are all better educated on how to determine if a sexual partner is feeling happy and enthusiastic — or not. New Mexican teens should have the opportunity to understand and respect their own boundaries and those of others before they become sexually active. Skills taught in affirmative consent classes do not encourage teens to have sex.

The skills taught are basic empathy and communication skills — social skills. Good people do not want to hurt others, but many of us need more social skills to navigate complex social experiences like sex.

I would ask all our state legislators to make the affirmative consent bill a priority this legislative session — and take one more step in preventing sexual assault for the next generation.

Darya Glass is a co-director and social studies teacher at the Santa Fe Girls’ School, an all girls’ middle school. Her eighth grade students choose a bill to lobby each legislative session as part of their civics and democracy class.