Doing Good While Having Fun: How Leeds Students are Changing the Culture Around Sex and Consent
Jacqueline Wong interviews Sebastian Glasper from SASHA and Hana Ortiz from Sexpression, on the conversation around sex and consent amongst students.
Image Credit: Stewart Munro on Unsplash
Freshers’ Week is sold as freedom on tap. You get a chance to reinvent yourself, meet hundreds of people in a week, and experience the version of uni you’ve been promised in films. But behind the glitter of club wristbands and unlimited mixers lies a more complicated reality. When everything is new, students are left to figure out their own boundaries. That makes the first term one of the most vulnerable points in university life.
When you’re still learning how to balance intimacy, alcohol, and independence all at once, it can be difficult to distinguish between what you want and what feels expected when you’re under peer pressure. It’s no surprise that safety and respect often get drowned out by the louder soundtrack of freshers’ week. Yet this is exactly when those issues matter most, as habits are forming and identities are still taking shape.
Student groups at the University are taking action to ensure that safety doesn’t have to be sacrificed for the enjoyment of nights out. Societies like SASHA (Students Against Sexual Harassment and Assault) and Sexpression are helping reframe the conversation around sex, consent, and boundaries, shifting it from fear and awkwardness to openness and respect.
Finding Boundaries in the Blur
For Sebastian Glasper, President of SASHA, a key challenge for freshers can be simple yet daunting: “You don’t really know where your boundaries lie yet, and you might not have thought about other people’s either.” Freshers are juggling new cities, people, and a pace of living all at once. It’s no wonder consent doesn’t always make it into the conversation.
Saanvi Purkayastha, a committee member of SASHA, recognises how quickly vulnerability creeps in: “Many freshers struggle with loneliness, homesickness, and mental health challenges, even while surrounded by people. While freedom and fun are definitely part of the experience, there’s also a lot of vulnerability and adjustment that gets hidden beneath the surface.”
Sexpression sees a different kind of pressure playing out: the rush to “catch up” with flatmates or friends when it comes to sex. “Students can feel pressure to have sex at the same pace as their friends,” Hana Ortiz, President of Sexpression, explains. “Sex and relationships are different for everybody. Let things happen when they feel right. There’s no need to rush over sex FOMO.”
Beyond “Yes” and “No”
Consent is often misunderstood as a simple binary, but reality is rarely that clear-cut. “It’s not as black and white as ‘yes’ and ‘no,’” says Hana. Sexpression’s Confident with Consent campaign breaks it down into something easier to hold onto: FRIES – Freely given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic, and Specific.
Sebastian points out that safety isn’t always about obvious physical danger: “It could be an uncomfortable conversation that doesn’t cause physical harm, but still leaves you uneasy.”
These subtler red flags, such as jokes that push too far, the pressure to share more than you’re ready to, the assumption that intimacy automatically follows a night out, can be harder to name but just as damaging.
Another SASHA committee member draws attention to the role alcohol plays in muddying the waters. “A lot of Freshers’ Week revolves around socialising in unfamiliar settings. When alcohol is involved, those lines can become even blurrier, making it harder to assert yourself or recognise red flags.”
That’s why both societies argue that education around consent needs to acknowledge not just the headline cases, but the everyday moments where students feel stretched, pressured, or silenced.
Building a Peer-Led Culture
Neither society believes top-down solutions are enough. Freshers are far more likely to listen to their peers than to a university handbook. That’s why SASHA and Sexpression have put peer-led culture at the heart of their work. “Opening up discussions removes stigma and shame,” Hana says. “It’s important to celebrate pleasure and sexual reform, but also that nobody feels alone when dealing with difficult situations.”
Saanvi takes this further, imagining a shift in how students talk about sex. “I’d love to see consent treated as an active, ongoing part of every interaction, not just a box to tick. That means making conversations about boundaries normal, creating safer social spaces beyond heavy drinking, and encouraging bystander intervention.”
To get there, SASHA is piloting a structural change with its Accreditation Programme with the LUU, rolling out this October. It will train student societies on how to navigate consent and harassment issues within their committees. Sexpression, equipping leaders to create safer environments from the inside out.
Sexpression, meanwhile, leans on creativity to spark conversation. From Doodle and Discuss art sessions to tote-bag making and their annual Sextravaganza pub quiz, the society uses humour and craft as entry points to heavy conversations. The idea is simple: serious change doesn’t have to come in serious packaging.
Advice for Freshers
Both groups agree that freshers should give themselves permission to slow down. “FOMO is real, but taking a night off won’t ruin your chances of making friends,” Sebastian reminds us. Hana puts it simply: “Be kind to yourselves. Allow pleasure and joy, because sex is supposed to be fun. But if someone can’t respect your timeline, they’re not the right person to be with, and that’s okay.”
The thread through all of this is care for yourself, friends, and the community you’re building together.
Changing the Culture
Freshers’ Week will always be a mix of late nights, inside jokes, and stories you’ll tell for years. But there’s also room to do good amidst the chaos. Look out for your friends, respect boundaries, and foster an environment where everyone is comfortable.
Fun and activism don’t have to be on opposite sides of the dance floors, as shown by SASHA and Sexpression. They can coexist in a social setting that inspires both laughter and change, and be made better by knowing your friends have your back.
As Sebastian puts it: “We want people to enjoy themselves, have fun, and explore new things. But also to know that consent is at the heart of it all. Doing good and having fun should go hand in hand.”
After all, uni isn’t just about finding freedom, but forming the kind of freedom you wish to share with others.
Words by Jacqueline Wong