Two of those bizarre and confusing consent videos which used milkshakes and, uhh, spear fishing as some kind of weird metaphor for sex have been pulled from the Australian Government’s Respect Matters website after they were slammed by pretty much everyone.
In a statement obtained by News.com.au, the Department of Education admitted that after the big media fracas that emerged yesterday, the two most cursed videos have been taken down. Nevertheless, the related course content is still available for teachers online.
“In response to community and stakeholder feedback, two videos have been removed form The Good Society website,” Department of Education Secretary Michele Bruniges said.
“The Website contains about 350 resources aimed to support teachers and parents to educate students across all age groups about respectful relationships more broadly.”
This is the government’s new video to educate teenagers on consent… and honestly, I think I actually know less about the issue after watching this. What’s going on?
Originally reported by @samanthamaiden
Full video here –https://t.co/hzxSFGWvKq pic.twitter.com/MflbzhDPZP
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) April 19, 2021
The series cost $3.7 million to make and didn’t mention the words “rape” or “sexual assault” once. Instead, it spoke down to teenagers and obfuscated serious issues with zany, over-the-top skits
Oh, and it was approved by Education Minister Alan Tudge who’s been caught up in misconduct allegations of his own over the past few months.
Bruniges added that the Consent Matters website is “designed to be a live and dynamic resource, with content added, removed, and modified, to ensure it remains current and appropriate.”
That’s an interesting way of phrasing the fact it took a huge public outcry for them to wake up to how weird and unhelpful the videos were in the first place.
The Milkshake video series
– Cost $3.7 million to make
– Took up over half the funding allocated to the Respect Matters campaign
– Was approved by Dan Tehan and Alan Tudge who have voted for religious policies like the religious discrimination bill & against same-sex marriage— Amber Schultz (@AmberMaySchultz) April 20, 2021
“The Department [of Education] will continue to engage with experts to evaluate the materials that appear o the website to ensure they are fit for purpose and reflect current experiences and community issues,” Bruninges continued.
Fingers crossed, hey.
