Sexual consent a bigger focus in recent years, says sex educator

A woman who teaches workshops on sexuality and consent at university campuses says students reporting sexual assault is just part of a bigger problem.

"If we lived in a different world where conversations about sex and consent were more honest, then maybe people could come forward more often without fearing societal shame and stigma," Kaleigh Trace told CBC Radio's Information Morning.

Trace, who works at downtown Halifax sex shop Venus Envy, has been running sexuality and consent workshops on university campuses for five years.

Over the past few years, consent has become a bigger focus of her sex talks "partly because students have been asking for talks on consent, which is awesome," said Trace.

After CBC News aired several stories showing lower than expected numbers of sexual assaults reported on campus, Trace said it's not surprising more students don't come forward.

"I think that having a multiplicity of options can be great," said Trace.

"I think that a lot of people don't want to go to police for a ... variety of valid reasons and so I like having alternative options, as long as those options are made clear and the recourse that can come out of those options is made clear to students."

Students have approached Trace about the explicit posts to a Dalhousie dentistry Facebook group and the university's move to leave much of the choice in the hands of the women students named in those posts.

"I think that in particular with what's happened with Dal dentistry school, it's put a lot of onus on those people who have survived something that's been traumatic," said Trace.

"For them to then decide the outcome for the students, which seems really difficult and unfair."

Trace, who runs workshops for as many as hundreds of students and as few as ten, told CBC some university students initially respond with jokes at her talks.

"We're not really taught to talk about sex in a way that's honest and fair and safe and so it's easier to kind of joke and laugh it off," said Trace.

Despite this, "people are hearing us but it takes some time to step back and actually absorb the information."

Discussions about sexual assault and consent lead to a change in perception. But that change is slow, said Trace.

"I think these are really big shifts."