That's what allows people to use power to put people in positions of being oppressed or suppressed. Those gray areas or that lack of definition in our ideas around consent is what allows predators to take advantage. Q: How do you hope this show will help people better understand consent?Įssiedu: I feel like our education around consent and what it means is so far behind where we need to be. But that's the great achievement of the show: It exists on a knife-edge where one thing he does is his fault and another thing she does is her fault, so who's really at blame? There's a lot of people doing regretful stuff in that episode, and he's flawed. She's saying really problematic stuff to him that he's trying to ignore just to get that monkey off his shoulder, in a way that people sometimes do in hookups. That's what leads him into this situation with this woman who's got a lot of f***ed-up politics.
What resonated with you most about Kwame's encounter with Nilufer?Įssiedu: Kwame's in survival mode: There's been so many instances of him being disregarded or invalidated, and he's got a real urge to do whatever he can to take control. Q: Especially now with dating apps, it can be so easy to get wrapped up in what you want out of a hookup, without really considering the other person's emotions or experience. It says something about those institutions at large and who they feel is worthy of attention. If you compare Arabella's experience reporting her assault with Kwame's experience reporting his, there's quite a big gap.