Youth-Led Prevention to End Sexual Violence: 6 Questions with Shael Norris of SafeBAE
Shael Norris has dedicated her career to empowering youth activism and ending sexual violence. For 15 years, she worked at V-Day, the activist organization famously known for curating The Vagina Monologues. While overseeing the College and Community Campaigns and working closely with students and advocates across higher education, she noticed an increasing trend around safety and accountability on college campuses.
“What became increasingly clear, through the leadership of students themselves and the incredible professionals leading campus prevention and response efforts, was that this work was starting far too late,” she said. “We collectively understood that the challenges we were addressing in college had deep roots in adolescence, and many of the harms students were navigating could have been prevented with earlier, more intentional education.”
That realization was the impetus for her decision to shift her focus toward secondary education and to apply what she had learned from her work in higher ed to younger students. She launched SafeBAE in 2015, alongside a group of young co-founders, who she says were speaking out about sexual violence and accountability at a time when that was far from normalized.
SafeBAE is the only survivor-founded, youth-led organization working to prevent sexual violence among teens in the U.S. — addressing everything from sexual assault to sexual harassment, and even sexting. The organization equips young people — primarily middle and high school-aged students — with the tools to prevent harm, support their peers, and ultimately drive generational culture change. The goal is to help young people understand what a healthy relationship looks like and to empower them before harm happens.
In this conversation, Norris reflects on her journey to SafeBAE, discusses the power of youth-led prevention, and shares where she sees the greatest potential for meaningful societal change to address sexual violence among young people today.
What progress, and/or setbacks, have you seen since SafeBAE launched in 2015?
We’ve seen the beginning of a cultural shift. Some of the taboos around discussing consent, relationships, and harm with young people have started to lift, and more educators and parents are recognizing the importance of prevention work. At the same time, we’ve faced real setbacks. The increasing politicization and polarization of education and public health — along with disinformation and social echo chambers — have made it harder for people to access factual, evidence-based solutions or to engage with issues they may feel unfamiliar with.
We still have a long way to go, but the work we do remains grounded in shared values. At the end of the day, most people want the same thing: safety, dignity, and healthy relationships for their children. Our challenge, and our responsibility, is to continue bringing people together around those values and to ensure prevention starts early enough to truly make a difference.
At the end of the day, most people want the same thing: safety, dignity, and healthy relationships for their children. Our challenge, and our responsibility, is to continue bringing people together around those values and to ensure prevention starts early enough to truly make a difference.
Why is it essential that prevention work like SafeBAE’s be led by young people themselves?
Decades of research and practice show that adult-created, adult-delivered programming around sexual education and healthy relationships has real limitations. The most effective prevention work happens peer-to-peer. Young people are far more likely to engage with content when they see themselves reflected in it — when it actually feels authentic, relevant, and grounded in their lived experiences.
Youth-led models create buy-in, foster trust, and invite students to take ownership of the culture around them. When young people are positioned as leaders rather than passive recipients of information, prevention becomes something they actively shape rather than something imposed on them.
What do you most wish parents, caregivers, and educators understood about the sexual violence realities young people face today?
I wish adults would fully confront how common dating abuse and sexual violence are among young people — and how serious the consequences can be. We know that rates of harassment and abuse are extraordinarily high, and we also know that teen survivors face alarmingly elevated risks for suicidal ideation. We all need to face the fact that this is a life-or-death issue. Despite this, too many adults avoid these conversations or fail to prioritize evidence-based prevention.
Avoidance doesn’t protect kids; education does.
I want adults to understand that just because these conversations weren’t part of their own upbringing doesn’t mean they shouldn’t happen now. Avoidance doesn’t protect kids; education does. I also want decision-makers to recognize that prevention requires real investment. Funding and prioritizing solutions that actually reduce harm is essential if we are serious about protecting young people.
From SafeBAE’s work with middle and high school students, how do pornography and hypersexualized media influence young people’s understanding of consent, boundaries, and healthy relationships? What do you hear from young people about how these influences affect their relationships, mental health, or sense of self?
Media shapes everyone’s understanding of relationships and consent when there’s no meaningful counterbalance — and young people are no exception. Students consistently tell us that these types of media are actively influencing what they believe is normal in relationships: how they’re expected to show up, what intimacy should look like, what to expect (or not to expect) from a partner, and how consent is practiced or ignored.
We need to hold media creators accountable for more responsible portrayals of intimacy and relationships.
That’s why it’s critical to approach this issue from two directions. We need to hold media creators accountable for more responsible portrayals of intimacy and relationships, and we also need to equip young people with tools and resources to critically engage with what they’re consuming. When we invite students to analyze the shows they watch or the content creators they follow — without shaming them — they become incredibly engaged.
Ask a young person about Love Island or their favorite influencer. Talk with them about the messages being sent. When adults frame these conversations as curiosity rather than judgment, they create valuable opportunities to interrupt harmful norms and behaviors and to encourage thoughtful reflection rather than imitation.
What actions can adults, institutions, and communities take to reduce sexual harm among young people? Where do you see the greatest potential for meaningful change right now?
Every adult has a role to play in preventing dating abuse and sexual violence. Schools and community organizations should prioritize evidence-based prevention education as a core component of youth programming — whether that’s in classrooms, sports teams, clubs, or after-school activities. Conversations about boundaries, respect, bystander intervention, and unhealthy relationship dynamics should be woven into all the spaces young people occupy. The more often young people hear these messages, the more trusted adults they can turn to, and the greater their access to support and resources — the safer they will be.
Conversations about boundaries, respect, bystander intervention, and unhealthy relationship dynamics should be woven into all the spaces young people occupy.
For parents, caregivers, and trusted adults, the responsibility is simple but essential: Talk to your kids. Ask the uncomfortable and awkward questions. Use the resources we’ve created to find accessible talking points and guide those conversations. Avoiding these topics does not protect young people. Statistically, they will move through childhood and adolescence having encountered these issues directly or indirectly.
The greatest opportunity we have for lasting change lies in starting earlier.
The greatest opportunity we have for lasting change lies in starting earlier. Teaching children about healthy relationships during their developmental years is far more effective than asking them to unlearn harmful messages later. Early prevention has ripple effects across a lifetime, influencing not only dating violence but also mental health, educational access, workplace safety, and domestic violence. No single intervention offers greater public health impact than prevention that begins early and is sustained.
What do you want young people to know, especially those who feel overwhelmed by sexualized culture, unsure about boundaries, or afraid to speak up?
You are not alone in your confusion, discomfort, or desire for better education. These feelings are shared by so many others — even if it doesn’t always seem that way. You deserve relationships rooted in respect, and you deserve honest information to help you navigate them. Demand better. You have more power than you’ve been led to believe.
