Sexual Health

For general information about sexual health (including advice on contraception, unplanned pregnancy and sexual health testing), please see the SU's campaign webpage.

Consent

Consent is not something that you should ever forget, dismiss or take for granted.

Consent is necessary for all sexual activity. Consent to sexual acts is defined in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the key elements of which are:

• That a person agrees to the act by choice, and has freedom to make that choice.
• Consent is comfortable, active, retractable, chosen, and an ongoing conversation.
• Consent is not assumed, pressured, expected, under the influence nor carried forward.

If you do not receive a clear ‘yes’ every time for every act, it does not constitute consent. There are no maybes, no blurred lines, and no compromises - you must have clear consent to sexually touch or penetrate somebody else.

When someone says ‘no’, that is not a tease – it is non-negotiable, and does not mean ‘later’ or ‘maybe’.

If you want more information about sexual consent, visit Pause Play Stop - to test your understanding of what sexual consent means, take their online quiz.                 

For additional information and resources, visit the SU's We Get Consent campaign webpage