Affirmative consent is the assumption that if a woman doesn’t say yes like a broken record, then a man can accidentally rape her. You can consent to sex non-verbally and through body language. Affirmative consent limits women in how they can have sex and consent to sex, because it assumes the default to be that a woman doesn’t want sex. There’s no room for weird gray areas that absolutely happen in sex, which can neither be classified as respectful or full on assault.

Say for example you switch positions with your partner mid-way and your partner wasn’t completely down with it at first, but eventually they became really into it as you went on. Was that rape? According to affirmative consent standards, that would be a kind of sexual assault. This isn’t sexual freedom, it’s neo-puritans who lack a real understanding of sex and relationships dictating for others how they can have sex and consent.