This post was updated Oct. 12 at 8:26 p.m.

Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of sexual violence and assault that some readers may find disturbing.

Chanel Contos hopes to expand education on consent through research and testimonies compiled in her latest book.

Contos is the founder of the Australian nonprofit organization Teach Us Consent and the author of “Consent Laid Bare: Sex, Entitlement, and the Distortion of Desire.” The book was first published in Australia in 2023 and hit the shelves of United States bookstores on Aug. 5, 2025.

Contos spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Gwendolyn Lopez about “Consent Laid Bare” and her goals of spreading awareness surrounding consent and sex education.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Bruin: Your book, “Consent Laid Bare,” explores many different aspects of sex, including the patriarchy, pornography and sexual violence. What kind of research went into creating a book about these topics?

Chanel Contos: “Consent Laid Bare” actually was originally my dissertation thesis for my first master’s degree. I was studying education, gender and international development at University College London, and I did my dissertation on entitlement in high-income contexts, and sexual violence as a manifestation of that, along with other power imbalances – with race, class, gender, colonial power – and how those all intertwine into this manifestation. And then I turned the research into a book. So even though when you read the book, it’s written in really simple terms – it’s actually really heavily researched and referenced.

DB: What was your inspiration in writing a book about consent and sex specifically for young adults?

CC: At the time, I was running a campaign for mandated consent education in Australia, and I had the unique experience of reading thousands of testimonies of sexual assault. I posted 7,000 stories of sexual assault that happened while the victim and perpetrator were of high school age and named the school and graduating year. And then 50,000 people signed a petition for mandated consent education. A year later, consent education was successfully mandated in all Australian schools from kindergarten until year 10. I feel like I just had a really unique insight into the problem, and then also, because I was doing my master’s, I felt like there was a solution.

DB: The press release for “Consent Laid Bare” mentioned testimonies of sexual violence and assault as a direct influence for the book. How can teenagers or young adults make the topic of sexual violence more addressable?

CC: There’s lots of preconceptions that sexual assault, or rape or rapists, are violent and angry and social outcasts – when, in reality, they’re very much ingrained in the social fabric of our society.

Particularly, UCLA is actually the first frat party I ever went to. And I was genuinely shocked by what I saw there – the concept of ratios, in terms of how many girls or women were allowed to come to the event, versus men and boys. That in itself is giving different human value to men and women depending on what they can offer, and who has access to what. I go into that in the book a little bit – the skewing of the sexual economy and market, and also how frats in the U.S. hold, structurally, a given power in the way that the universities are positioned.

DB: How do you see hookup culture and toxic masculinity shaping teenager and young adult relationships with sex?

CC: When toxic masculinity is the main or dominating form of masculinity – and it definitely is at university level and colleges – having sex becomes a conquest. It becomes a social status indicator, at least for men. And when there is that transactional value associated with an act that should be intimate, intimacy just gets removed from the situation.

I think that hookup culture and the idea of sex as a social status advancer is really fundamental to a lot of rape culture. Really importantly to point out here as well that it’s very patriarchal and heteronormative the way that this is celebrated – men don’t get celebrated for having sex with other men, because we live in a really homophobic society.

DB: In what ways do you think the current sexual education environment can be reformed?

CC: Especially in America, I think consent education should be a fundamental part of parenting – because consent isn’t just about sex. I think violations of consent at a sexual level are probably the most grave violations of consent, and can have the most significant consequences for the person whose consent has been violated. But everything revolves around consent, and respect, and empathy and respectful relationships – and the more we can embed that in our young people, the better. Of course, I think the education system should also address these topics, so that the people whose parents maybe don’t speak to them about this – or the people whose parents are the ones violating their concern – are still protected in various ways.

DB: What final takeaways would you impart on college-aged readers in regard to consent and sex?

CC: Just really critically think about where the source of your desire comes from and what decisions you’re making. Are they for you, or are they from someone else – not just in the sexual landscape, but also in the way that you present yourself.