Culture of Consent

We Take Consent Seriously!

Consent means asking for permission before taking actions that impact other people. Quite often, when we talk about consent, we’re talking about sexual behaviors and scenarios.

Culture of Consent Includes:

  • Telling people about what’s in food or drinks so they can make informed decisions about consumption

  • Not writing on someone else’s art unless it is clear that was the artist’s intention

  • Asking before misting someone

  • Obtaining an explicit “yes” before spanking that booty

  • Asking before touching

  • Respecting a “no” and giving people space if they don’t reciprocate

  • Allowing people to opt out of pranks

  • Asking before taking photos

REMEMBER!

A person’s age, sobriety, and state of mind impact their ability to consent.

People’s ability to feel safe and free to express themselves without fear of their boundaries being violated is an important part of what makes YOUtopia special, a “temporary autonomous zone.” More on that later, but first:

Supporting Consent Culture

We have a variety of information, burner specific examples, resources to help you craft a plan to support Consent Culture at YOUtopia.

  • As part of your theme camp placement application, you’ll be asked to share your Consent plan for your group, regardless of your group’s theme or the attributes of your members. This guide is intended to help you craft your plan.
  • Free training in Consent, Bystander Intervention, and Crisis Intervention is available to the community.  If you’d like to schedule a training for your group, message consent@sdyoutopia.com.
  • Talk with your friends, camp, or department about Consent Culture and our shared values.
  • Talk about how you’ll handle it when things go wrong. Because things go wrong. And we can all always do better.
  • Be prepared to respond sensitively to violations of consent by helping impacted people connect with appropriate resources at the event:
    • You / the community
    • Rangers (volunteers with conflict resolution skills)
    • Medical
    • Security

Consent Helps Autonomy

Creating a temporary autonomous zone without some basic structure is nearly impossible. It is with the creation of this temporary autonomous zone in mind that the Ten Principles were created. Boundaries are what enable us to soar to new heights – they are the structure and safety line that enable us to scale the unscalable walls of our fears and hopes and desires.

So why care about creating a Consent Culture? Because we want to have excellent experiences. We have the best experiences when we feel respected and unafraid.

Questions?  Comments?  Email consent@sdyoutopia.com

Want more?

Of course you do! We’ve got a Consent Culture Planning Guide with concrete examples and links to lots of resources.

Learn the Culture of Consent

CONSENT & BYSTANDER INTERVENTION TRAINING

The San Diego Collaborative Arts Project (SDCAP) and YOUtopia offer free training in Affirmative Consent, Bystander Intervention, and Crisis intervention to any group within the San Diego Burning Man Community.

Trainers have been professionally trained by The Center for Community Solutions, and are available to work with your Theme Camp, sound camp, art project, intentional community, knitting circle, etc.

If you would like to request a training, please reach out to consent@sdyoutopia.com

We Shamelessly Stole a Few Things

Consent Is Sexy, Consent is Serious

Building Consent Culture

Burner Love