Sexual Consent Apps Answer the Wrong Problem
Don’t Sign Off Your Rights to Appease Men
What’s Affirmative Sexual Consent?
The first time affirmative sexual consent made the big news was Antioch College, Ohio. A group of students had written a rulebook for sexual relations on campus (called the Sexual Offense Prevention Policy). It dictated that verbal consent should be given every time and « for all levels of sexual behaviour ». If you’re aware of the discussion around sexual consent today, this might sound reasonable. Except it was the early 90s, and the policy read such things as ‘Silence conveys a lack of consent’. And ‘Consent is required regardless of the parties’ relationship, prior sexual history, or current activity’. At the time, the policy even made Saturday Night Live, where they ridiculed it.
Fast-forward twenty years or so, and many colleges have similar policies. California even required that colleges adopt affirmative consent guidelines a few years ago. The « No Means No » has morphed into a « Yes means Yes » and it doesn’t sound so weird anymore. Now, after the #MeToo phenomenon, affirmative sexual consent is being debated more than ever before.
For the purpose of this text, I’ll refer to affirmative sexual consent in a rather broad sense. It will refer to any view of…
