50 Shades of No was formed; an organisation dedicated to removing the grey area around consent.

We asked women around the world to share moments where their lack of consent was overlooked or ignored by the other party. 50 real women gave us 50 verbal or physical cues they used to try to stop or slow a sexual encounter. We then printed these cues on t-shirts in 50 shades of grey. On International Women’s Day 50 influencers committed to wear and share a tshirt on their social channels, spreading the message to millions. All 50 shirts were also featured in a film depicting a series of scenarios where women did not give consent to participate in sexual encounter. An ecommerce site was launched where the tshirts are available to purchase, raising funds for Project Consent.

Shortly after the Aziz Ansari scandal, a Facebook page was created asking women to share the ways they tried to stop or slow a sexual encounter that were ignored by the other party. These statements were then printed onto tshirts in 50 shades of grey.

Purposely launched on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2018, the project was released via social media (Facebook and Instagram). 50 public figures committed to take part, wearing a tshirt, sharing it on Instagram and spreading the message to millions. All 50 tshirts also featured in a film, launched on the same day, depicting a series of scenarios where women did not give consent to participate in sexual encounter.

The t-shirts were made available online for purchase to raise money for Project Consent. Hundreds have already been sold, and reshared on social media. People created their own custom versions using statements or actions of their own.

The film was posted by influencers and shared by millions worldwide, garnering over 55 million media impressions, 6 million social media impressions and 50 countries reached. On March 8 alone, over 100 t-shirts were sold with 100% of profits from t-shirt sales donated to Project Consent, an organisation dedicated to consent education, dismantling rape culture and supporting survivors of sexual assault.

Social influencers and celebrities such as Abigail Breslin (500k followers), Steph Smith (1.3 mill followers) and Ashy Bines (1 million followers) posted pics of themselves wearing the shirts and shared to their followers.

Hundreds of tshirts were sold in the first few days, with demand still going strong. Many have also shared pictures of themselves wearing shirts on social media, continuing the conversation on their own channels.

Released on International Women’s Day, a Facebook callout asked women to share the ways they had tried to slow or halt a sexual encounter, without using the word ‘No’. These statements were printed onto tshirts, available for purchase via an ecommerce website and shared by targeted influencers via social media. The project was supported by a film, which was released via social media and shared worldwide. People were encouraged to make their own statements, buy t-shirts to raise money for Project Consent, and educate the world on the many ways to say ‘slow down’ or ‘stop’.

It was time to broaden the conversation from NO means NO to what is actually said and done in these situations. There is a ‘grey area’ around what constitutes consent. The solution is simple. By checking in with our partners, we can make sure everyone is safe and having a good time.

The campaign was targeted at men and women globally, intended to raise awareness around the issue. We reached out to women worldwide to understand the cues they used where they didn't feel comfortable or confident enough to give an outright 'no'.

50 real statements from 50 women were printed onto a range of t-shirts which were made available for purchase on an ecommerce site, and featured in an online film. Viewers were encouraged to start a conversation using the hashtag #50shadesofno, and to purchase a t-shirt online, with all proceeds going to Project Consent.

On the 13th of January, the online publication Babe.net published an article from an anonymous woman describing her date with the actor Aziz Ansari, which ended in a sexual encounter. While Ansari claimed he believed the encounter was consensual, his date did not. She stated that although she did not say ‘no’ outright, she gave numerous verbal and nonverbal cues to indicate her discomfort.

This article sparked heated debate online. While some claimed the woman was assaulted, others said she should have ‘just said no’. What was clear, however, is when it comes to consent, there is lot of grey area.

In response, we set out to show the world that the absence of ‘no’ is not consent. Our objective was to educate people on the many verbal and nonverbals ways someone could say ‘no’ to sex - signals people could then be aware of and respect.