EDUCATION

Shedding light on problem of sexual assault

Washburn Rural students leading effort to combat problem facing teens

Phil Anderson
Washburn Rural High School junior Srividya Dasaraju, left, and senior Sara Li are leading an effort to raise awareness of the problem of sexual assault.

With media reports of high-profile sexual assault cases fresh in nearly everyone’s mind, two Washburn Rural High School students are combining efforts to draw attention to what they see as a widespread problem.

The students, junior Srividya Dasaraju and senior Sara Li, are leading an effort called “Project Consent,” which they hope will shed light on the topics of sexual assault and rape — areas that often are kept hidden in the shadows and away from public view.

Below, the two students answer questions about their project and what led them to start it in the first place.

Capital-Journal: What is the purpose of Project Consent?

Sara Li: The purpose of Project Consent is to open discussion on sexual assault and rape culture by spreading awareness and promoting consent. I really wanted to shed light on the stigmas revolving around sexual assault and what we, as a society, can do to educate people on the importance of taking it seriously as a crime.

Capital-Journal: Why come up with this project at this time?

Sara Li: I started Project Consent roughly a year ago. There wasn’t any specific incident that prompted me to start the project other than the fact that sexual assault has been a very prominent issue for so long. As someone who grew up in the mentality of rape culture, I wanted to bring awareness on how damaging it is that we live in a culture that normalizes sexual assault. Sexual assault and rape culture has always been an issue and my only regret was not starting this project sooner.

Capital-Journal: How big a problem is sexual assault and content at your school, or other places in Topeka.

Sara Li: Sexual assault is a prominent issue, no matter where you go. Sexual assault is an act of violence that has been watered down to a joke in several instances because regardless of location, there’s always the ingrained idea that sexual assault is something that just happens. It’s not. It’s an act of violence consciously committed by an assailant and it’s disgusting how it’s become an accepted part of our culture.

“We look at assault cases and automatically want to normalize it by throwing out questions such as ‘What was she wearing?’ or throwing it under a rug with excuses like ‘Oh, men can’t get raped! They love having sex!’ Sexual assault has become a laughing matter for comedians, entertainers and the average citizen who can’t see the harm of using rape as a quirky verb in their speech.

“Even at Washburn Rural, rape culture is a huge issue. Recently, there were three boys who started a parody of the project called ‘The Consent Ignorance Project’ that advocated for sexual assault as a joke.

“Sexual assault is a global epidemic and the fact that it’s such a silent crime only goes to show how pervasive it has become.”

Capital-Journal: How did you come up with the idea for the project?

Sara Li: The project initially started with me just saying to myself, ‘Hey, how can I bring attention to this issue?’ It started out as a photography project where people would send in statements advocating for combat against sexual assault and it expanded into a platform where anyone can speak up against rape culture.

Capital-Journal: How many people are involved with the effort in Topeka?

Sara Li: The staff are Project Consent are located all over the globe. I’m working with people from the Netherlands, Texas, California, etc. Sri is the only member on the team who is located in Topeka.

Capital-Journal: Tell us about your experience working with Project Consent.

Srividya Dasaraju: Being involved with Project Consent has allowed me to grow a lot. I realized early on that the society that we live in is one that is surrounded by rape culture and gender stereotypes that allow sexual assault to simply be ignored.

“Although I have been able to voice my opinion in the past, Project Consent has allowed me to do that on a greater scale in addition to actually taking action, to trying to dispel the societal stigmas that surround sexual assault right now.

“I am grateful to have been able to see the project grow from its earliest stages and see how our work has impacted people, whether it be changing their opinions on rape culture or hearing survivors of sexual assault sharing their stories with us. Project Consent motivates me to continue working toward a world in which there is not victim blaming and one in which consent is not just an abstract idea, but also to continue tackling social issues.

Capital-Journal: Are you working with a national group? If so, what are you doing with that larger group?

Sara Li: We are affiliated with a couple of groups who took interest in the project. Caitlin Stasey, an actress on the CW’s “Reign,” has expressed interest in combining her project, Herself.com, with us. We are partnered with New York University’s Students for Sexual Respect and we are in talk with Feminist.Com about ways we can work together.

Capital-Journal: Do you have any events planned to get the word out?

Sara Li: Because our team is so scattered, our work mostly revolves around projects that we take up so that anyone can access them and hear our message.

Srividya Dasaraju: We would like to see the project continue to develop and expand. Social media has allowed us to start expanding on a national and even international level, but we believe that it is also important to continue that same progress on a local level.

Capital-Journal: Where would you like to see this group expand — other areas of the state, city and nation?

Capital-Journal: How can people find more information?

Sara Li: They can visit us on our website, projectconsent.com, for all of our work and updates. All of our social media accounts are linked, as well as contact information for individual staff members. We’ve worked very hard to make sure that people can contact us because this is a platform open to anyone.

Srividya Dasaraju: Using social media as one of our main platforms to develop the project is extremely useful because it reaches a greater audience and allows us as a team to work together even from far away distances. Most importantly it opens up an enormous space for people to start having the conversation about consent.