A dry anger - channelled into a social media poll - sparked a moment of national reckoning when Chanel Contos called for mandated sexual consent training in schools through country-wide programming.
Now, she has written a book about it - and is bringing her work to Newcastle on September 16.
The 25-year-old's Consent Laid Bare: Sex, entitlement and the distortion of desire is a raw look at rape culture in Australia from childhood to long-term relationship and workplace tensions.
"A large part of the argument in the book is that I think we have under-represented numbers of sexual violence [reports] in Australia because people who have been victims don't even know what sexual violence is to count themselves in those statistics," Ms Contos said.
"[Sexual abuse] is so much more than a single act - it often starts at 12 or 13," she said. "We've all been cat-called, we've all gotten off the bus early, we've all walked the well-lit route home."
Ms Contos hopes her work - which began with a post on social media in 2021 asking followers if they had experienced assault - will empower women to speak early.
Her calls for better education came at a critical time for the country: a Senate inquiry into consent reforms, including a grilling on why $1.5 million for university training was shelved, and new research from advocates like Jess Hill have created a make-or-break climate around Australian sexual abuse laws.
"It is [about] knowing the way this rape culture impedes [on] every aspect of daily lives and normal functions rather than thinking of consent as something that pops up as an anomaly in an unwanted sexual experience," Ms Contos said.
"I remember all the points in my life when I found out something wasn't ok and was encouraged to do something about it," she said. "It made me confident to stand up for myself and others and I wanted to do that for as many people as possible."
Ms Contos, who is this year's NSW Young Woman of the Year, hoped the book will give young readers the right language to discuss big topics.
"I hope this will be revolutionary and they will start perceiving the things that happen to them not as part of womanhood but as an injustice," she said of the book, written "like I would speak to a room of 16-year-olds".
And Ms Contos said she could not wait to speak as part of Newcastle Writer's Festival on Saturday.
"I can't believe it. I'm pinching myself," she said. "These conversations are hard - but I hope it is educational and makes people feel as if they can stand up.
"I just hope people leave coming to the talks or reading the book feeling empowered as though they have greater capabilities to engage in romantic relationships the way they actually want to and not how they have been told they have to."
Tickets are available to the event, which kicks of the the University of Newcastle Conservatorium of Music at 7:30pm, here.
Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14 or 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
