A rape survivor and sexual assault awareness activist who created a line of consent-themed underwear has sold over 1,000 units to people hoping to talk about boundaries before sex.
Ella Fairon, 24, was a victim of a violent rape when she was in high school 10 years ago. Since the horrific event, Fairon has become a leading advocate and educator for sexual assault survivors.
Her line, called Assk First, has taken off, with new collections, including one for men, and new sizes (now ranging from XS to 4X) since she started the brand last year.
“When I launched this I didn’t even know if people would resonate with it [or] like it, so when I saw that there was a want for expansion, I was really excited,” she told The Post.
The breathabl,e laser-cut underwear is adorned with original designs created by Fairon and slogans she hopes will spark a conversation about consent.
“Ask me what I want!” reads a black thong with a pink kitten. “Consent is sexy,” reads another, sporting another little pink cat. A recent collection simply says “Get consent” in a heart with two skeletal hands reaching for each other.
“Our brand has started so many interesting conversations around this issue,” she said, excitedly.
“I imagined so many different scenarios where someone would see them and be prompted to ask, ‘What does your underwear mean?'” Fairon told Kennedy News.
She was inspired to create Assk First after turning to art to help cope with the suicide of her best friend, Daisy Coleman. The two met when they were featured in the 2016 Netflix documentary “Audrie & Daisy,” which followed the stories of high school rape victims.
The girls became best friends as they devoted their lives to advocating for sexual assault education and survivors, going on to co-found SafeBae in 2017, a national, youth-led organization that does assault-prevention education among teens.
Coleman struggled to cope with the trauma of her rape and took her own life on Aug. 4, 2020, after being triggered by stalking abuse. “When Daisy died, I was really struggling with it,” Fairon said.
“I coped with her being gone by doing digital art, and it sounds so stupid but I started drawing these little cat characters and I thought they’d look so cute on underwear.”
Fairon started Assk First last May with a Kickstarter campaign and Instagram account. The line features “hand-drawn designs by Ella that introduce consent in a creative way, inspired by some of Daisy’s signature artistic style.”
“The cats were inspired by her ferocious spirit and, of course, her name,” the Kickstarter page explains. “As consent is something that she and I have traveled the world to teach to teens and young adults, I know that this line would truly be a work that she would be proud of,” noting that all proceeds go to SafeBae.
The project has received mostly positive feedback, but Fairon has gotten some negative comments from people who she said do not understand the campaign.
“I get comments from majority men saying it’s the stupidest idea and my underwear would never stop a rapist,” she said. “I thought that was such a weird response, because you don’t look at someone wearing a cancer-awareness shirt and say, ‘Your shirt isn’t going to stop cancer.’ It’s such a stupid reaction.”
“Of course the underwear isn’t going to stop a rapist, but the ideology that the only kind of rape in the world is the violent type that happens in a back alley — that’s what I want to dismantle.”
According to RAINN, 1 in 6 women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape. “That’s a very small percentage of sexual assaults that occur. Rape is an escalation of sexual assault,” Fairon explained.
Looking at assault as a whole is an even bigger picture, with one American being sexually assaulted every 68 seconds, RAINN reported.
“When we’re talking about consent and sexual assault, we’re not talking about violent rapes, [which] do happen but are a very small percentage. That’s the whole point of my brand,” Fairon said.
“You’re contributing to rape culture by ignoring all of these other things that are happening.”
If you have experienced sexual assault and need support, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline 24/7 at 800-656-4673 or visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website.
