A cup of tea. It’s warm, it’s comforting, it’s what you turn to when you’re crashing at work, or relaxing at home.

It’s also a really easy way to understand sexual consent.

How? By explaining that just because you offer someone a cup of tea, and just because they say yes, and might even be excited about it, it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to drink it.

If you make someone tea, you need to be prepared for the fact it might just sit there and go cold.

Or maybe the person you make it for is unsure if they want it to start with, so you make them a cup and let them decide in their own time.

The important part? Don’t make them drink it. And whatever you do, don't make tea for an unconscious person. 

Watch the full video above. 

The analogy's been floating around for a few years, but this video, made in England by Thames Valley Police and adapted for American audiences by Blue Seat Studios, shows it perfectly with a simple animation.

It’s so easy to see why mothers everywhere want to share it with their sons.

Despite all the education we seem to have about consent and sexual assault, it’s still way too prevalent. Just take the Stanford rape case. The range of reactions to the incident, and the court decision that followed it, showed just how uninformed people are about what consent actually is.

If you’re struggling to explain it to your kids, the cup of tea is a perfect analogy.

The best part about it that it's so simple. Just like consent.

"If you say, ‘Hey, would you like a cup of tea?,' and they're like, 'Uh, you know, I'm not really sure,' then you can make them a cup of tea, or not, but be aware that they might not drink it.”

"And if they don't drink it, then, and this is the important bit, don't make them drink it. Just because you made it doesn't mean you're entitled to watch them drink it. And if they say, ‘No thank you,' then don't make them tea. At all.”

"Maybe they were conscious when you asked them if they wanted tea, and they said 'yes.' But in the time it took you to boil the kettle, brew the tea and add the milk, they are now unconscious. Don’t make them drink the tea. They said ‘yes’ then, sure, but unconscious people don’t want tea.”

See how simple that is? Share away.