Georgia Harrison launches sexual consent campaign

An influencer has said her inbox was "flooded" with young people's stories after her former partner was convicted of voyeurism and sharing a private sexual video without her consent.

Stephen Bear, 34, was jailed for 21 months in 2023 after uploading footage of himself and Love Island personality Georgia Harrison to OnlyFans.

After he was jailed, Ms Harrison said she had waived her right to anonymity to show other victims she stood in "solidarity" with them.

Now she has partnered with Thames Valley Police (TVP) for a campaign designed to "start conversations" about consent.

"Something was done without my consent and it’s something that I have to deal with," she said.

"I got past it... but because of it I have so many young people always flooding my inboxes with their own stories of sexual assault or sexual abuse, or times when things have been done without their consent."

TVP launched Consent Conversations after research commissioned by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) showed a lack of understanding of what constituted rape and sexual offences - especially for those aged between 18 and 24.

"Statistics show that, for instance, 46% of people recognise that if someone had been drinking or taking drugs, they are still responsible for rape," said Ms Harrison.

"It's so important that we change young people's perceptions of that, and the only way to do that is to have a conversation."

She said there was also misunderstanding about consent for people who were in a relationship.

"They thought that just because you're in a relationship, you can have sex whenever and you don't need consent for it," she said.

"That really surprised me."

There were also misconceptions about the withdrawal of consent, with just 28% of young people thinking a person did not have to have sex with someone when they met if they had said they previously said they wanted to.

Ms Harrison said the issue was something she was "so passionate" about, and hoped her involvement would make it easier to talk about.

"It's probably a bit weird going to a pub or going into school and saying 'hey guys, let's talk about consent'," she said.

"But if someone sees this then they can say 'did you see what Georgia Harrison did the other day? She was doing a really great campaign on consent', and then they can start speaking about a few misconceptions of consent."

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