u/Sara_K_Schneider

Hi, everyone,

I’ve really been wondering about something. The comment “Consent is sexy” comes up a lot in Heated Rivalry fans’ praise for the show. Personally, that phrase doesn’t signify a lot to me—not that I don’t think consent is important! It’s just that I see Ilya and Shane’s equilibrium in athleticism, fame, power, wealth, etc. as a big piece of what makes this a really different kind of romance. That equilibrium leads to a different kind of respect between two equals. Is sexual consent just another way of expressing this equilibrium?

I’m wondering about the demographics of those who do a lot of talking about consent. Is it mainly something people in their 20s and 30s talk about? Older? I must have encountered it in the California public school system in the 70s—I understand it was taught!—but it still feels a bit foreign, like something I wouldn’t have thought to say myself. It didn’t have the thingness it now seems to have. With whom do you do the most talking about consent—your partner, your friends, in the medical field or trauma-based teaching, in activism?

Greetings! I have been studying Spanish for just over a year and hover at around a A2.3 level. I have taken a break from group classes at the Instituto Cervantes and am working with a tutor on italki ito improve my conversational skills.

I have been wanting to volunteer to help with refugees seeking asylum or those who could benefit from help with medical translation in clinics here in Chicago, where there is a lot of need. I would say in English I am a sophisticated reader and understand medical matters readily.

How far advanced have you been before you felt useful in these volunteer settings? Have you needed to wait until you were able to operate readily at a C1 level?