JUDY WOODRUFF: The MeToo movement has ignited
many conversations about appropriate behavior
in households, companies, and in schools.
From PBS station WGBH in Boston, Cristina
Quinn went to one high school to see what
students were being taught.
It's part of our weekly series Making the
Grade.
JESS ALDER, Start Strong Boston: Hand-to-hand.
All right, foot-to-foot.
CRISTINA QUINN: Tenth graders at New Mission
High School in Hyde Park kick off their class
with an ice-breaker game called partner-to-partner,
led by Jess Alder and Taquari Milton.
JESS ALDER: Back of the head to back of the
head.
Nose to nose.
No?
CRISTINA QUINN: The point of the exercise
is to start a discussion about boundaries
and reading nonverbal cues through body language.
JESS ALDER: How many people felt comfortable
hand-to-hand?
Everybody.
What made that comfortable?
What made that OK?
It felt safe.
It felt at home.
What about when I said belly-to-belly?
CRISTINA QUINN: Jess Alder is acting program
director of Start Strong Boston, a program
run out of the Boston Public Health Commission's
Division of Violence Prevention.
She says she and Milton use real issues and
platforms like the MeToo movement to open
up discussions about what constitutes a healthy
relationship.
JESS ALDER: It can be really confusing.
If a young girl talks about how some boy is
teasing her at school, her guardians, teachers
will often say, oh, that just means they like
you.
They will just brush it off.
And that's putting the women in a position
of like, OK, it's OK for me to be treated
that way.
And it's also giving assent to guys that are
kind of picking on somebody to get their attention.
CRISTINA QUINN: Program coordinator Taquari
Milton says when he talks to teens, he sees
that many of them are confused about what
consent really means.
TAQUARI MILTON, Start Strong Boston: Boys
like saying, oh, she's playing around because
she doesn't want to give it up, like certain
comments like that.
It's like, no, she's just not comfortable.
Like, you need to have consent and like actual
stuff like that.
CRISTINA QUINN: Alder and Milton visit middle
and high schools throughout the city, and
in each visit, they address topics ranging
from the various forms of abuse to barriers
the LGBTQ community faces.
They also explore how rape accusations divide
a high school through their web series "The
Halls."
ACTRESS: She want it, she got it.
You don't have to start worrying about me.
CRISTINA QUINN: Nate, a New Mission High sophomore,
says he appreciates how candid the class is
and admits he thought he knew more than he
did about boundaries.
NATE, Student: I thought I had a strong grasp,
but today showed me that I really don't.
You don't always know what consent is.
Like, sometimes, your consent is different
from somebody else's consent.
CRISTINA QUINN: These are the takeaways that
Jen Slonaker, V.P. of education at Planned
Parenthood Massachusetts, is hoping the healthy
youth act will further cultivate.
JEN SLONAKER, Planned Parenthood Massachusetts:
When young people are given the skills and
the information to have healthy relationships,
whether it's friendships or relationships
with trusted adults early in their life, they
are going to be that much better able to negotiate
romantic or sexual relationships later.
CRISTINA QUINN: Last summer, the Senate passed
this bill, which mandates all sex education
in Massachusetts be age-appropriate and medically
accurate.
It's now pending in the House.
But even without legislation, Jess Alder of
Start Strong says the discussions around consent
and sexual assault has helped changed students'
attitudes over time.
JESS ALDER: What I have noticed most with
young people that are able to stay in our
program for a handful of years is the direction,
that they go from victim blaming to becoming
an upstander in the field.
CRISTINA QUINN: Something most agree we could
use more of.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Cristina Quinn
in Boston.
