Only Yes Is A Yes: Asia’s First Consent Café

New Delhi: Imagine a café that goes beyond just your coffee and cookie preferences. A café that not only serves your favorite beverages but also creates a safe space to talk about consent and your choices openly. Let me introduce you to Asia’s first Consent Café, a space to talk about consent without fear. Consent Café is an initiative by Durex’s The Birds and Bees Talk program, designed to provide safe spaces for open and honest conversations. The TBBT Consent Café will be a space that is human first, very aware, in a world of hyperreal. A mindfulness of understanding one’s own presence, boundaries, acceptance as well as the presence of others.

It is a welcoming, immersive space that will foster open dialogue and consent literacy inviting people of all ages and backgrounds to reflect on their own experiences while learning how to navigate consent with awareness and empathy.

The café offers an inclusive environment where adolescents and youth can engage in conversations about consent, gaining essential life skills for healthier relationships.

Ravi Bhatnagar, Director, External Affairs and Partnerships SOA, Reckitt said,

Consent Cafés are urgently needed today.

He pointed out that Gen Z, growing up in a more progressive environment, is particularly eager to discuss consent, while Millennials have witnessed the gradual evolution of these conversations. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers have seen major changes in attitudes toward relationships, autonomy, and power dynamics in India.

Watch: Asia’s First Consent Café By The Birds And Bees Talk

What all is there in Consent Café?

The café hosts various activities, such as open mic sessions, poetry, art competitions, and storytelling, all aimed at promoting consent literacy and fostering human connection. A highlight of the experience is the Consent Dome, an immersive space that uses lights and visuals to represent the harmony of mutual consent, inspired by tribal community bonds.

Divya Sharma, Founder of Worship Strategy said,

The goal is to create safe spaces within tie ups with coffee shops across the states where people, especially younger generations can understand the importance of mutual respect and have interesting engagements.

In Pics: Asia’s First Consent Café is Now Open

She further explained the structure of the Consent Café, which is based on the five pillars of TBBT: consent, equity, inclusion, awareness, and protection. These pillars guide conversations on consent, healthy relationships, emotional well-being, bodily autonomy, and communication.

By combining art, peer sharing, and interactive learning, the Consent Café seeks to empower young people with the knowledge and confidence to create respectful relationships and contribute to a more informed society.

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.