California’s Affirmative Consent Law

…a love story

by DLKMWriter

Homecoming was on every girl’s mind around the Freshman dorms. Jane was especially excited because she’d met John at orientation and he was everything she imagined her first college boyfriend would be. He was smart and tall and handsome and he could follow rules.

The night of the big football game Jane took extra time brushing her hair so that it lay nicely on her shoulders. If John asked permission to touch her hair she wanted it to feel like tendrils of silk spun by angels. She put on her team’s colors and set off to meet John at the game.

Jane looked beautiful. John thought so too when she sat down next to him in the stadium bleachers. He was grateful that the university had stopped selling beer at home games. He couldn’t risk that Jane would want one. He hoped to kiss Jane later and he knew that just one drink on her part could get him charged and labeled a sex offender for life.

The college team was unimpressive but John was very impressed with Jane. He hit the record video button on his phone and centered her face in the frame. “Jane, may I hold your right hand?”, he asked. Jane said yes and took his hand in hers. They both knew that under S.B. 967 either one of them could be accused of sexual misconduct if they weren’t careful.

The score on the field was 58–48 and their team was behind. But the score in the bleachers was Love All as Jane and John held hands and talked frankly about the evening ahead of them. There were parties of course but neither dared go to a place where alcohol might be served. The law was clear that in order to consent to physical contact one had to be sober.

On the way back to John’s frat house Jane stopped by her dorm room to print out the consent forms she and John would need. Jane’s roommate saw this and reminded her that both she and John would have to sign and initial each page of the contract. “Pre-Law majors”, Jane exclaimed as she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

John had an advantage over other California college students in that his frat’s Den Mother was also a Notary Public. He knew he and Jane could get the legal stuff out of the way before either of them lost that loving feeling.

John’s Den Mother named the pages as she turned them. “Consent to touch thigh, consent to touch right breast, left breast…” Then she looked up at them, “I see John’s consent to receive oral but not Jane’s”. Jane looked sheepishly at John. John studied her face then said, “there’s a printer in the study room”. “Really?”, Jane asked, knowing this meant he really liked her. “Really”, said John as he rushed out to print the necessary form.