Why Is Consent Controversial?

April 24, 2025

Ask Indiana lawmakers ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 24, 2025

Howdy, Meteor readers,

I know everyone is talking about Sinners, but I am what you would call a certified scaredy-cat; I still suffer from Scream. But a bunch of fellow scaredies online say it’s not too bad if you watch it during the day so I’ll see y’all at the afternoon matinee.

In today’s newsletter, we investigate sex miseducation in Indiana. Plus, Nona Willis Aronowitz remembers her “feminist fairy godmother.”

Meow,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Virginity education: Yesterday, Indiana’s House and Senate voted in favor of SB 442, titled “Instruction on Human Sexuality.” You might have heard of it (on our Instagram feed and elsewhere) because of a debate over whether that “instruction” should include the idea of consent. The the bill’s author, Sen. Gary Byrne (R-IN), had removed a requirement that teachers address consent earlier this week, arguing that the subject could be seen as “controversial.” (Research from the Indiana Department of Health shows that 56 percent of sexually active high schoolers had experienced some form of sexual violence, with 11th grade girls making up most of that group.) After public outcry, though, the consent requirement was re-added to the bill yesterday—your latest reminder that yelling works.

But here’s the thing: The bill is still light on the education part of sex education. In addition to consent, it requires sex-ed classes in Indiana to teach four things: abstinence, abstinence (yes it’s listed twice), instruction that the best way to avoid STIs is a “mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage” (we remind you, these are children and teens), and the viewing of a high-definition ultrasound video, at least three minutes long, depicting the development of organs in a fetus. It’s giving Catholic-school health class, and I would know, as someone whose sex-ed wa shaving to watch the movie Riding in Cars with Boys.

Let’s linger on the video for a second. These kinds of videos—most notably the notorious “Baby Olivia”—have cropped up over the last two years as a tool of the anti-abortion movement and are more often than not, medically inaccurate and meant to elicit an emotional response rather than be strictly educational. When pressed about the video requirements by Democratic senators yesterday, Byrne insisted he was not specifically suggesting “Baby Olivia,” IndyStar reported, and that school boards would be able to choose which films get shown to students. “There’s plenty of examples of videos,” he argued. (When pressed to name them, he could not.)

Indiana is, of course, not the first state to introduce such narrow requirements for sex-ed classes or to inject what sound like conservative Christian views of sex into a secular public school system. Currently, 37 states have laws that require abstinence as part of sex education, while only 18 require teachers to share information about birth control. As far as education around consent? Only 12 states—13 if the Indiana bill passes—require that it be mentioned. But studies show that simply telling teenagers not to have sex doesn’t protect them from STIs or unwanted pregnancies. What does work, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, is comprehensive education that includes consent, contraception, STI prevention, and sexual health for LGBTQ+ communities.

AND:

The Women’s Health Initiative, a landmark federal project dedicated to studying women’s health, lost a huge portion of its funding this week as a result of the Trump administration’s cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. Largely known for its contributions to understanding menopause, the WHI also conducted research on chronic disease in older adults. Jean Wactawski-Wende, who led a WHI research branch at the University of Buffalo, told NPR, “It’s been one of the most productive studies in history. And to really understand older women’s health — dementia, heart failure, frailty — we are the study to do that. And it’s been eviscerated right now because of these budget cuts.” Another researcher said there was a “glimmer of hope” that WHI’s work could continue but that nothing was certain.
On a recent episode of her podcast, former First Lady Michelle Obama discussed why she chose to skip Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the very simple answer was: She didn’t want to go. “I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me,” she said. “And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that ‘was right,’ or was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me.”

OBAMA AT A LIVE TAPING FOR HER PODCAST, “IMO.” IN HER LEFT HAND, SHE CAN BE SEEN HOLDING ALL OF HER DESIRE TO CONTINUE BEING A PEOPLE PLEASER. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

This week, Sportico released its list of the 50 highest-paid athletes of all time; topping the list is Michael Jordan, who has earned roughly $3 billion since turning pro in 1984. That’s not surprising—but what is is that there’s only one woman on this list, coming in at number 40. Can you guess who it is? Some hints: she retired in 2022 and did not play a team sport. Click here for the answer.
The Department of Education is set to resume student loan collections beginning May 5, ending a five-year pause that began as part of pandemic relief. This will be especially troublesome for women borrowers. So what does it mean for you? If your account is in default or is very close to being in default (you can determine your status here if you’re not sure), then the DOE will move your loan into collections. Once in collections, you can either try to arrange a payment plan or, in the worst-case scenario, the Treasury Offset Program could authorize “involuntary payments” from your paycheck. May the finance gods be with us all.
Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has had enough of Kristi Noem’s mierda. After ads featuring U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Noem threatening to “hunt down” Mexican immigrants ran on Mexican television, Sheinbaum responded by asking her government to approve a measure that would ban “foreign governments from carrying out political and ideological propaganda in our country.” Sigue jodiendo para que vea.
Feminist journalist Karen Durbin died last Tuesday at the age of 80. She was a widely revered critic who ran The Village Voice in the 90s, famously putting an image of a woman with an exposed tampon string on the magazine’s cover in 1995. The Meteor’s Nona Willis Aronowitz, whose mother was close to Durbin, remembers Durbin “as a dishy, witty auntie figure, a bottle-redhead who loved girly things like shopping and celebrity gossip but also was a dead-serious feminist and journalist who steered me toward foundational pro-sex essays when I was writing my college thesis on 70s porn. She was one of my first feminist fairy godmothers.”