Lawmakers tackle sexual violence starting in high school

State lawmakers are estimating that more than 80 percent of California high school students have to pass a health class in order to graduate. So, lawmakers want to educate younger students about the importance of consent in response to the growing number of sexual assaults on California college campuses.

Senate Pro Tem Kevin De Leon of Los Angeles says, “We’re going to the high school level, cause quite frankly the attitudes, the normalization of a culture of sexual assaults, of the objectifying of young women doesn’t just start when you walk onto a college campus it goes deeper than that.”

The new legislation would also require high school Health classes to discuss how to develop healthy relationships and include information about affirmative consent. California is the first state in the nation to pass a “yes means yes” law defining consensual sex.

De Leon went on to say, “Over 20 percent of young women are victims of sexual assaults on our college campuses. That is a number that is much too high. 1 percent is much too high, ” says De Leon, “It’s important all young men, young women understand what sexual violence is and that we change attitudes, change values, change culture.”