Happy Holidays!

I hope you're all having a lovely December. For me, it's been pretty great so far. I've worn at least three different tacky Christmas sweaters, decorated both the inside and outside of my parents' house, and I've thrown my diet out the window. Eating well is now 2017 Alex's problem. 

I guess I just love this time of year because I get to spend time with my family and friends. I mean, my parents are the cutest. Just look at them. My dog is also cute, but Daisy doesn't understand how cameras work and, therefore, never looks at them.

Just look at her. I can only get a good photo of her when she's asleep. 

Anyway, I also love December because it is a wonderful time to reflect on the past year. It's important to examine what you've done and how you can be more successful in the future. In the spirit of learning from the past to grow in the future, I've been looking over the feedback we've received for The Story of Consent.

When we first launched the website, we set up a survey so that we could get a feel for what you guys liked or disliked or found confusing. As of today, we have only gotten 18 responses. I would still really like your feedback so that Ali and I can keep making improvements to the site. Here is the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MLTZGR9

To everyone who has already filled out the survey: thank you so much. Your feedback was incredibly helpful and some of you came up with some really cool ideas that I hope to use on this site in 2017. 

One of the criticisms we received from this survey was about the lack of submissions from the male perspective. I completely agree with this comment. As of today, our submissions appear to be mostly from women. I am very thrilled that so many women have found this website as a safe space to share their experiences. However, the primary reason Ali and I created this site was to educate as many people as we can about how consent operates in real-life scenarios. When we have very few submissions or experiences from men about consent, the conversation becomes one-sided. It's really important to Ali and I that people of all gender identities feel comfortable sharing their stories. A lot of my guy friends that I've talked to told me that they wanted to share something on here but really didn't feel like this space was a place for them. This kind of broke my heart because I want this to a place where anyone can engage in this cathartic process. If you have any suggestions for how we can remedy this, please let us know. 

Another person requested that we provided a way for readers to show support for the people who submitted stories, like a comment section or a like button. When we were designing the website, Ali and I had a lot of debates about this issue. On one hand, it would be really nice to have a way to thank the brave people who shared their experiences with us. On the other hand, activating a comment section opens up each individual story to potential criticism. We ultimately decided against allowing comments. This website is intended to be a conversation... but it's a safe space first. I love the idea of people having conversations and debates about consent. But, years of the internet has taught me that a comment section can turn ugly. For now, we have also turned down the idea of a like button on individual submissions. We are still debating about that one. However, we are not against the idea of showing support for submissions that spoke to you or taught you something. If you have any ideas or suggestions for how to make that happen, contact us. Also, you could give another post a shout out in a submission of your own. If you read something you found thought-provoking, you can reference that in your own post. If reading a specific story inspired you to share you own, say that in your post. Letting someone know that their story helped you is an amazing way to show your support for the post. 

Here was the final suggestion we received:

"I like the story vehicle. I almost want you to empower the writer even more. What if we gave them the tools of chapters, illustrations, titles, and characters - the therapy of story writing in its fullest form."

I really love everything about this suggestion. If you are the person who submitted this comment, please reach out to me. I would love to bounce ideas off you and get a fuller understanding of what your vision is. Right now, I'm working on the submission page so that you guys can submit illustrations or images that help tell your stories. Also, if you want to submit chapters of a much longer story, you are welcome to do that. Honestly, you can format your stories, experiences, and opinions in whatever way you feel comfortable. Your story is different than everyone else's and the way you tell it should reflect that. If there is something Ali and I can do to make your story more accessible to this website, please let us know. And, if anyone else has ideas for how to empower the writer more, please contact us. 

If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, or ideas, feel free to email us at thestoryofconsent@gmail.com. If you want to contact me specifically, email me here. 

I love reflecting on the work I've done and coming up with ideas to improve. If you have ideas for us, please let us know. We are working hard to make 2017 a wonderful year and we need your help to do that. 

Love,

Alex Svenpladsen