What is Consent and How Does it Fit with the Principles of Burning Man?
The pro-active, Burner-led initiative to drive consent culture, 11th Principle: Consent!, suggests the yet-to-be-made-officially-official Burning Man Principle of ‘consent’ be fleshed out in the following words:
“We value the transformative experience of sensual and consensual touch, play, and interaction. We believe that consent plays a vital part in our connectivity and community. Our vision is that all parties participate in a physical encounter from a place of enthusiasm and autonomy. Consent must be explicitly granted from an individual who is clearly in a state of mind to be able to grant it.” – Originally Drafted March, 2013 | Present Version March, 2014
For many humans, the Burn is the first and, possibly, only place where they have encountered the opportunity to communicate openly and freely about the concept of consent. Most describe their experience with practicing consent ethics within the Burning community as profoundly freeing and healing, noting how it creates a space in which one can radically express oneself in a safe environment and has helped to better define one’s own boundaries through introspection and the use of improved communication tools. These transformative experiences reportedly leading to increases in feelings of autonomy, self-esteem, and self-actualisation.
How does consent play out regarding the Principle of Radical Self Expression?
The practice of Radical Self Expression is as much transactional as it is individualistic in nature. Rather than being a statement of rights or privileges of the individual, it describes the way in which the individual relates or ‘transacts’ with others. This Principle calls upon the individual to consider the rights and liberties of others during that transaction, ensuring all parties involved have consented.
Experiences that are radically awesome with consent can be radically awful without consent. Whether we are talking about touching, hugging, sharing food, sex, gifts, conversations, photography, or even putting something in a port-a-loo that doesn’t belong there (did the port-a-loo consent to that? We think not.) – enthusiastic consent needs to be sought and gained.
Consent is informed, explicit, affirmative, and can be revoked at any time.
Avoid confusion and misunderstanding by employing clear, consent-based communication. Some misconduct happens unintentionally through misunderstanding. It is your responsibility to get a clear, enthusiastic yes before transacting with another person. Only a yes is a yes. Everything else, including silence, is a no. Consent is affirmative and can be withdrawn at any time.
The Broad Scope of Consent-based Transactions
Enthusiastic consent applies to more than just sexual encounters. Below are the six core areas of consent that the global Burner community has identified:
- Touch: Just because you hugged someone yesterday doesn’t mean you can surprise them with a hug today. “Surprise contact” isn’t always wanted, even if it’s affectionate.
- Kink: Consent for one thing isn’t consent for another. If I said you can spank me, that doesn’t give you permission to grope me.
- Sex: Consent can be revoked once it’s been given.
- Gifts: Disclose what is in your gifts, even if it’s just essential oils. Some people have sensitivities
- Foods: Disclose the ingredients, one person’s innocuous ingredient can be someone else’s allergy.
- Photography: Ask before taking pictures.Remember consent to take a picture is NOT consent to post it on your blog.
Bystander Intervention & Seeking Assistance
So, what happens if you witness non-consentful conduct on the Paddock? Should you step in? The answer is an enthusiastic ‘yes!’ That said, it is important to be familiar with the tools and resources at your disposal to ensure you take the most effective approach towards a resolution.
This poster from 11th Principle: Consent! Provides a useful guide to bystander intervention tactics:
Further Resources: Seeking Assistance and Participation On and Off the Paddock
The Black Sheep Rangers work within our community to help participants navigate the Paddock and promote awareness of how to have the best Kiwiburn experience possible. Through their training and with the support of the event, they have useful skills to deal with certain situations and easier access to more resources (such as Site Manager, medics, etc.) than most participants do. Rangers are a roaming tribe, identifiable by their giant, neon-green pole lanterns and matching attire.
Consent Club is a violence prevention and informal support system that works to uphold consent, safety, and accountability. All Consent Guardians have participated in extensive training in consent culture (through an intersectional, decolonial lens), bystander intervention and disclosure support. Consent Guardians are a roaming tribe; identifiable by their logoed t-shirts.
Kiwiburn Conduct Committee is a further hierarchical resource available to Burners. The purpose of the Conduct Committee is to provide a safe, consistent, fair and confidential process, by which reports of behaviour that transgresses the Kiwiburn Code of Conduct can be investigated, documented and actioned. The Conduct Committee is comprised of volunteers from the Kiwiburn community who have skills, training, and experience in fields such as counselling, teaching, mediation, and crisis management.
Whew! That was a lot to unpack. How are you feeling now? Are you pumped and ready to commit to helping to ensure our community is safe for Radical Self Expression? Is that an enthusiastic “yes!” to the promotion of consent culture welling up inside you? Excited to get involved now or when you return Home to the Paddock? Well, you are in luck. Here are just a few of the many ways to get more involved: before the event, you can use the links above to express your interest in volunteering for any of these consent-focused teams or, at the event, scope out the Event Guide for your opportunity to participate in consent-focused workshops and activities.
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