Creating the ASK campaign | a collaborative project about consent

How did Consent Is Rad, Hera Skate, Consent for Breakfast and Doyenne end up coming together for this project?

We all understand how essential the conversation about consent is and by bringing as many different people into the conversation as we could, we hoped to create a space where we could all learn together. For this reason, we wanted to collaborate with other organisations and initiatives within skateboarding who share the same values and aims.

Doyenne is a women-run skateboarding brand born in Glasgow with the mission of making skateboarding more inclusive and accessible. Consent is Rad is an international campaign and hub focused on education and sharing the message about the importance of consent in the skate scenes globally. Consent for Breakfast is a UK-based online platform and community run by skater and survivor, Bella, while Hera Skate is a Berlin-based FLINTA* skate collective who also run creative workshops for the community.

We are all based in different parts of the world, with different platforms and ideas but share a common goal: to make the skateboarding scene more welcoming, inclusive and safer for everyone. Some of us on the team have lived experiences with trauma and wanted to use that to help us in our mission to address the issue of consent with hope and sensitivity. We loved the diversity of voices and personal accounts we have included in the Ask campaign and we believe that’s what made the project so special.

Our collective also brought together artists, writers, researchers, social workers, designers and of course, skateboarders, to start breaking down what the root cause of non-consensual behaviour is and how we might talk about this topic in a way that is productive, engaging and serious, whilst keeping an uplifting tone to encourage the skate community to actively join in the conversation. Plus we were stoked to bring on board a selection of talented designers and illustrators who are sensitive to our mission, especially our lead zine designer Giulia Saporito. We are so fortunate with the ‘dream team’ that ended up aligning to our campaign, as well as contributors who bravely used their voices to help us drive the change we all want to see.

With ‘ASK’, we are hoping to open a conversation that everyone, no matter their gender, age, nationality or relationship to skating, can be a part of. We want to have as many people involved to share opinions, experiences and most of all, questions with the spirit of working towards solutions. We are a diverse community and no individual will have the magic single answer to a healthier and more respectful skate scene, but together we might get closer to figuring that out.

What has it been like collaborating with collectives from all over the globe? What were the challenges and advantages?

We know that consent is an important discussion that is relevant across country borders and time zones, so it felt completely apt to bring together initiatives from around the world to really address such a universal problem. To create true change, we knew we too had to come together with different perspectives in order to speak humbly to the global skateboarding community about the impact that we can have when we come together.

Although at times difficult, we all made the effort to stay connected and our group chat was always active, even while we picked up our project tasks in between other day jobs. It would’ve been great if we could’ve shared the same physical space when we needed to discuss the project as a team. We would’ve loved to be able to collaborate in person and have meetings over skates and coffees but despite this, it was clear we were all committed to supporting each other as much as we could with the project, but also when it came to preserving our mental health. Working on the ‘Ask’ campaign sometimes meant we were more immersed in our trauma than we usually would be but having the team that we had, we were able to stay completely aligned in our mission and motivations, while championing self-care despite tight deadlines and commitment to overseas collaboration. It makes it all even more amazing to see what we were able to achieve together online, with most of us not even having met in person before. There are also still so many voices we would’ve liked to include to help address such a big, universal issue but due to resource and time constraints, we couldn’t include everything in our debut zine. We still hope this helps get the ball rolling on the change we’d all like to see and benefit from in the skate scene, and perhaps leaves opportunity for more work from us in the future!

With all of us sharing the same concerns about skate culture despite being geographically scattered, there was a lot of beauty in those online meetings. They were always animated with the genuine and passionate care we have for our communities and the necessity of the conversations we were having. This meant that the project evolved and grew into so much more than we probably even imagined as individuals. Working together really gave us hope and motivation, and inspired us to be intentional and proactive when it came to tackling the issue of consent. We got a strong sense that our team, as well as collaborators, were able to see viable entry points for honest solidarity. The generosity of everyone’s input gave us real opportunities to learn, make mistakes and most importantly, grow together so it quickly became for each of us, one of the best experiences we’ve ever had doing this type of work. The project was built in a very caring space and we hope that is felt when people engage with the campaign and beyond.

What went down at the zine workshop?

Hera Skate is a Berlin-based non-profit organisation and collective, providing inclusive, diverse and accessible spaces for the FLINTA* [female, lesbian, intersexual, non-binary, transgender & a-sexual] community to feel empowered to skate and create together. Through weekly skate sessions, monthly creative workshops and artistic publications, their community can safely gather to create new friendships, build confidence and develop new skills together.

To support the ‘Ask’ campaign, Hera organised one of their creative workshops to bring people from the community together and explore the topic of Consent in a safe and supportive space. The art and poetry for the zine were made together through creative exercises while some artwork, collages and written pieces were also created individually.

Hera’s favourite creative exercise was the one where all participants wrote a poem together. The topic was presented to attendees and then they wrote anything down that came to mind for them personally. Then they folded the small notes and mixed them all together for anonymity. Now the magic starts! They made a random selection then pieced all the thoughts together into one big poem. The first true and honest words that came to our minds and hearts all came together in writing this poetry.

Through open and honest conversation throughout the workshop, they shared and listened to each other’s experiences of consent, not only in their everyday lives but especially in the skate scene. In doing so, they were able to define what consent meant to them as a collective and could keep inspired by one another, even beyond the event Hera hosted.

What was the brief to the artists who designed the t-shirts?

We collaborated with Liisa Chisholm, Paula Umana and Giulia Saporito for the design of the t-shirts. We wanted to give artists from our communities an opportunity to also voice their take on the theme of consent. They were asked to visually interpret some phrases that kept coming up during our meetings such as ‘Ask, Don’t Assume’ and ‘Ask Again’ which Liisa and Paula developed. We loved what they created for us because it felt important that we didn’t fear-monger when delivering our message and instead make the topic approachable in hopes that more people would feel comfortable engaging with our content. Our zine designer Giulia was asked to evolve Doyenne’s iconic ‘Skating the f*ck away’ tee because we felt the birth of the project gave that concept even more depth and meaning, so we were so excited to give it new life!

We loved the style of our selected artists so we really wanted to give them creative freedom in the work they produced for the campaign. While the zine is educational and informative, we wanted the t-shirts to convey positivity, empowerment and celebrate the progress that can come if enough people believe they have a role to play with the issue at hand. We wanted people to feel strong and proud to wear them, just like walking echoes of our manifesto to help us continuously spread the message of encouragement in openly talking about and asking for consent. All the artists did a beautiful job of showcasing our collective voice, sentiments and vision for the future that we’d love to see, continuing to grow together as a community but also have the ripple effect of positive change we know is possible.

What kind of impact do you hope this collaboration will have?

Conversations about harassment, sexual violence and rape culture are often swept under the rug, keeping the issue silenced or ignored. People can be unsure of what to say or do, in fear they’ll say the wrong thing. For survivors, it is easy to think no one cares and nothing can be done – accepting this lack of action as the norm. Knowing everyone deserves to feel safe and comfortable, it’s important that we take a stance and aim to find solutions. We want to show everyone that we each have the power to make a difference, and the Ask campaign team hope to lead by example. Not only would we love to see more campaigns and initiatives like ours, but also see skaters in our communities become true allies, and not just passive bystanders on the issue. We wanted the outcome of our collaboration to be vibrant, refreshing and accessible to remove the intimidating side of the conversation. We would like people to see that addressing consent is a necessary, empowering and positive thing – not something that should be avoided – so the zine is filled with art, comics, personal reflections, steps to action and a self-reflection exercise that asks for engagement on the topic, rather than blame. It’s important to us that there are entry points for learning and growth supported by a variety of ways to shift the belief that nothing can change. Ultimately, we hope to inspire action and empower everyone so that we can all benefit from safer and more comfortable spaces to live, exist as ourselves and of course, skate.

Do you have any advice for other collectives that want to help raise awareness about consent or be better allies within the skate community?

It’s important to acknowledge that this work is never easy, and issues of consent are a monster to take down. That said, we also know that education and commitment will be the biggest drivers to lasting change that will truly benefit everyone, especially those that need it most. It can take opening up about traumatic and uncomfortable topics, but it is truly a collectively rewarding and personally meaningful process. It takes tenacity and commitment, but skateboarders are great at this. Those behind the Ask campaign are also all skaters, so we know how to have fun, give leeway to being informal and innovative about things, while also being unafraid to make mistakes and try again. Be flexible in your approaches to tackling the issue, and fuel your commitment so you can keep trying again until you succeed. Get your friends talking about it and hold each other accountable! What is also equally important is to remember to exercise self-care and remember it’s okay to say ‘no’ and opt out of things you aren’t emotionally equipped for at that moment. Even in consent campaigns, you are allowed to have boundaries – after all, consent is all about an enthusiastic yes.

The best advice we can give is to start now – in whatever small way you can. Whether that’s sharing productive conversation with the people in your circle or finally making a start on that larger scale idea that you’ve been keeping on a shelf. Every effort counts, and every effort will contribute to shaping a better world for us to share space in. If everyone considered and acted on even one small change, that would add up to have a much greater impact than we could even imagine. The concept for this campaign was just a seed, but showing up together and asking others to join us is what truly helped the message blossom into what it is now. We believe in the positive growth possible in our communities, and we believe in the same for you.

You can support the ASK campaign by purchasing the zine or a t-shirt here.

Interview: Sarah Huston
Photography: @coassin.lara
Models: @frankieberlevy @9_mima_9 @silvia_anzoletti
Assistant: @silvia_anzoletti