In Conversation With The Consent Workshop Founder, Uche Umolu

Last year, we saw a sizeable paradigm shift in Nigeria, as a group of young women took to Twitter to name and shame their sexual abusers. This then birthed anti-rape initiatives such as We Will Not Be Silenced and The Consent Workshop, the latter founded by Canada-based activist, Uche Umolu.

The Consent Workshop is a safe space that aims to deconstruct rape culture through discourse on the boundaries of consent and sexual violence. In addition, the organisation also provides necessary legal and mental health resources for survivors of sexual abuse.

For centuries, women have endured sexual violence and abuse from men, with the biggest enabler of these acts being the culture of silence. Talking about sex, in general, is a taboo in our society, and as a result of this, abusers know their victims are likely to be too afraid to speak up.

Not on Uche Umolu’s watch, however, as anyone who follows her on social media knows how fiercely and unabashedly she advocates for survivors of sexual abuse, while simultaneously calling out perpetrators — refusing to be phased by the relentless threats she receives.

Even though things seem to be slowly changing, Nigeria still has a frustratingly pervasive rape culture, making initiatives like The Consent Workshop very essential. Given this, we at Konbini decided to speak to Uche about how TCW came about, her goals for the organisation and more.

Konbini: What led you to create The Consent Workshop?

Uche: I realised that justice for the sexual violence simply does not exist within our system, so I knew I had to finally invest my time and being into creating a sustainable solution to sexual violence.

This is where consent comes in: outside power and control, the next cause of sexual assault has always been an utter lack of understanding and disregard for consent. In reinforcing what is right or wrong, we start to make way for real change.

What shifts in society have you noticed since organisations like yours became rife?

The necessary conversations are now happening. The difficult ones that we spend time trying to dismiss. Silence has always been the main tool in perpetuating sexual violence, by forcefully breaking that silence and giving victims the courage to seek justice, we are slowly unlearning harmful behaviours

Most importantly, we are sparking a sensitised generation. By going into universities and secondary schools to teach youths and kids about the myths of rape culture, we are fostering a new generation of healthy sex choices and behaviours.

In an ideal world, what would be the end goal of The Consent Workshop?

TCW aims to raise social awareness and provide resources for victims to handle situations adequately, particularly younger kids who are simply unaware and unable to recognise sexual abuse happening to them.

For every school reach we’ve done, and after every class on consent, at least one child reaches out to us about being molested by a family member at home.

How do you think moving forward, the entire Nigerian society can contribute to eradicating the rape culture and sexual violence?

The government, private sector and educational establishments must be aggressively involved. Apart from individual learning that must take place, we must systematically start to reverse rape culture.

The government must start to put checks and balances in place that curbs this issue. One of such is the enforcement of a sex offenders registry to keep our communities safe. We recently started a petition for that ( you can sign here).

The private sector must also insist with sensitisation trainings within their structure, and we must introduce sex education into our curriculums.