The Topeka high school Gender and Women’s issues club welcomed Washburn Rural graduate Sara Li, executive director of project consent, during trojan time Thursday.

Li was only 17 years old when she first started  Project Consent, a nonprofit organization.

Project consent has three main goals. Awareness, prevention, and support for victims of sexual harassment, violence, or assault.

Project consent is used to prevent sexual assault and to be support for victims. Li explained that she first started [project consent] because she felt that it was an issue that needed to be addressed, “I thought it was an important discussion that needed to be had at the times and still now, not a lot of people are talking about the implications about what sexual assault is and the effects it had on its victims, so I wanted to start a conversation that could change the cultural.”

Li’s parents were supportive but scared for their daughter, due to the fear of negative backlash. Li went on to explain that her community wasn’t supportive but when on a social media platform she founded not only more support but more voices.”In my own community not a lot of people [were supportive] I think it made people uncomfortable to talk about sexual assault because it is a very sensitive topic, very subjective and a lot of people didn’t want to discuss it because we, unfortunately, live in a world where it’s easier to brush it off especially if you haven’t been affected by it, however, there was a lot of support online it was how I got my platform.”

Believe it or not but there are people who believe that rape culture isn’t a thing and that it’s something that society made itself. When asked what to tell people when they say rape culture isn’t a thing Li said,”I would say to take a closer look, look at the world around you because you may be personally affected by it.”

Around 100 students attended project consent, the goal was for students to understand and to feel more comfortable to speak up against sexual assault.