Intern: Lena Leemhuis
I have been interning for CUE for three weeks now. Marking this milestone, I have been reflecting on the process so far. In this post, I will look back and reflect on the onboarding process, becoming familiar with my workflow and adjusting to a professional (remote) work environment.
As this is my first ever internship, I went into this internship at CUE curious and open-minded. The topic of consent and sex education has always been interesting to me, and working on practical solutions appealed to me a lot. The first two weeks were very much about getting to know the company and its values and drive. I felt very welcomed by Xixi and Raeanne. In their introduction, they told a lot about their background and personal experiences and how those have led to the founding of CUE. Because of these shared stories and passions, the work environment automatically felt like an open and inviting space. It sparked my curiosity and excitement even more, knowing that the mission of the company is very close to the founder’s heart and that during my internship, I am also encouraged to work from my passions and explore professional work through my values and based on my experiences in both academics and personal life.
IMAGE: The creation of the interns group chat!
During my first two weeks, I explored the work done by CUE and tried to familiarize the style of research, marketing and communication. During meetings and workshops with Xixi and Raeanne, I became more familiar with the intercultural approach of consent education as well as the digital tool approach. Furthermore, through the workshop with Öykü, the ‘Intimacy IQ Test’ came to life, and her stories about previous workshops showed how accurate and urgent the issues CUE aims to touch are.
Alongside the workshops and seminars provided by the colleagues at CUE, I started exploring research done about consent and sex education in the Netherlands. Starting the research, I quickly noticed that there has been very relevant and recent research done in the Netherlands on various questions applicable to the aim of CUE. The research process causes mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was surprised that there is a lot of research available and that the topic of sex and consent education for young people is very much alive. Reading the research felt reassuring that young people are indeed very eager to change and challenge normative thinking about sex and sexual relations, and do feel a need to normalise mutual consent. However, on the other hand, my research also included a lot of data on the frequency of sexual transgressive behaviour experienced, which also caused me to feel frustrated and sad. This data showed once again how, in practice, the concept of mutual consent still seems to be very complicated and how little people are actually taught about it.
IMAGE: Library work set up
Diving into all the research done about sex and consent education in the Netherlands, I soon ran into a personality trait of mine that is very handy and can be challenging as well. When I dive into a topic, I am very eager to learn a lot about it. This comes with the difficulty of limiting myself to a specific amount of research and transitioning from reading information to actually applying the knowledge into output. Along with this tendency to always continue researching, I also have a lot of ideas. Being inspired is a very good place to start, but again, it can cause me to stay occupied with scenarios that could be interesting or explored. I have run into this issue many times, both in my personal and academic life, but have unfortunately not found a foolproof solution yet. In the case of this internship, it meant that I needed to step back again to look at the bigger picture and put everything into perspective. This allowed me to reflect on which ideas are feasible and suited to my internship project and which ideas might be more suited to long-term projects and aims. This process really helped me to so to say ‘kill my darlings’ and focus on the tasks and topics most urgent. In sharing my difficulties with the limitations of the research and the struggle of maintaining a clear focus, I have learned that output does not have to be definitive. I have learnt that in professional project planning, there is space to go back to ideas and change them according to the project’s process and that ideas are never perfect the first time.
During this process of learning about professional project planning and execution, I discovered again how important talking to colleagues is. Clear communication is, of course, very important to make sure everyone understands each other well and is on the same page. But what I have especially learned in the past weeks is how important communication is to me to stay inspired and energized. Because the internship is remote, staying connected was a struggle at times; asking quick questions and making suggestions is always easier in person. However, during the past weeks, I feel like a good and comfortable way of communication has been established. Frequent check-ins have helped me to avoid blockages and maintain focus. Furthermore, working together with Camilla and Federica at the library has also helped a lot in creating a comfortable workflow. Being in the same space has allowed us to easily share our ideas and struggles, which can be shared or tackled with each other’s advice and suggestions.
IMAGE: Having lunch in the sun!
Reflecting on the past three weeks, I noticed how far I have come already. Starting from curiosity has allowed me to immerse myself in the topic of sex and consent education. Now, after a couple of weeks, I feel more and more confident to contribute to suitable and sustainable solutions to make consent a more widespread and respected concept. I have learnt by trial and error that working towards a solution is not linear and holds room for improvements and changes. Building on this knowledge and within the inspiring environment, I can only imagine how much I will eventually learn and do in the coming weeks of the internship!
IMAGE: The first slide of the seminar I will give situating the current field of sex and consent education in higher education in the Netherlands,
