Chanel Contos: 2023 NSW Young Woman of the Year recipient

Chanel Contos is aiming to make Australian society safer for young girls and women by demolishing the "rape culture" that exists in our society, particularly among youth.

Chanel helped expose the stories of many young girls that rape culture has affected and the long-term damage it inflicts.

It is estimated that 1 in 3 girls experience sexual assault by someone they know. Chanel has led the “Teach Us Consent” movement which calls for earlier and more holistic sexual consent education and as a result, consent education has been mandated in all Australian schools, every year, from Kindergarten until Year 10.

Chanel’s Teach Us Consent petition gathered more than 45,000 signatures and more than 6750 girls and young women have submitted testimonies of their experiences of being sexually assaulted while at school.

The work that Chanel Contos is doing via the website "Teach us Consent" and her high media profile promotes the kind of grassroots education that has the potential to significantly reduce sexual violence and domestic violence towards young girls and women in Australia.