The Men’s Guide to Sex and Consent
Successful Dating Starts With Respect
Several years after the sudden rise in popularity of the #MeToo movement, and yet still some people are confused about the nature or importance of consent during sexualized interactions. Consent is important regardless of sex, creed, color, background, or finances, because consent, or a lack thereof, can ruin anyone; from the very rich, as we’ve seen with R. Kelly in the past few months, to the very poor, which can be evidenced by the many, many men sitting in jail right now for crimes pertaining to consent.
As #MeToo became a trend, I remember many men, including some celebrities, complaining that they were afraid to engage with women in the #MeToo era, fearing that they might be accused of sexual assault or rape undeservedly. Some people dismissively replied to this slightly understandable fear that men voiced with knee-jerk and reactionary statements like, “Well, if you’re afraid you can’t interact with women without being accused of sexual assault, you’re likely just a rapist or abuser!!!”
Neither of these statements are productive and both of them serve to further the divide…
I’d be lying to you if I told you that #MeToo didn’t change the way that I interacted with women. I became more cautious, which, in my view, was actually much of the…
