The (not so) crazy reasons students need an app for sexual relationships

Yes, there is an app for that. And if you’re a college student, you should be using it.

Let’s start with these numbers reported from institutions of higher education in 2014.

In 2014, Out of 11,000 college campuses in the US, 91% reported:

ZERO instances of rape.

ZERO incidents of domestic violence.

ZERO instances of stalking.

College sounds like utopia, doesn’t it?

A staggering juxtaposition of statistics.

Considering that one in five will experience sexual assault, and as many as one in four women will be the victim of intimate partner violence while they are in attendance at college, it’s obvious to us (and many others) that women feel and are (Still!) treated as if they have little-to-no agency or viable recourse at all in school, when it comes to sexual assault.

Right now, sex and gender in college is a civil rights catastrophe. How this has gone on for so long is a sobering lesson about apathy for all of us. Some would say that the atmosphere at colleges has had a chilling effect on sexual assault reporting. We would say that it is frozen.

91% of schools couldn’t even be bothered to formally acknowledge one.single.victim.

We need to correct some major wrongs in academia, and it begins with every student, right now.

Sexual assault on campus is one of the defining civil rights issues of our time.

Victims of sexual assault, regardless of gender, orientation, or sexual preference, need a more private way of dealing with and adjudicating matters of sexual assault on campus. Criminal complaints to the police, or reporting to the school is obviously not a valid option for far too many victims of sexual assault.

The sobering reality is that for too many, reporting sexual assault is simply considered a worse option than not reporting it.

Our app is a private and legal document that allows for full civil recourse, protection and due process under the law. We believe it would be foolhardy for a student to rely solely on their school to protect their legal interests in the event of ever having to make a sexual assault complaint, or being accused of sexual misconduct. Students often feel like initiating a sexual assault investigation would harm their academic environment, social standing, or future prospects in some way.

The path to recourse for sexual misconduct and sexual assault that we provide is a private and generic sounding ‘breach of contract’ claim that the victim can file if they feel like the terms of the contract they signed were broken. The terms and conditions of the contract are comprised in part, of the actual wording of affirmative consent legislation in California and New York.

We hope that after using our app contract, students will feel like they are taking direct responsibility as adults for the nature of their relationships and interactions with each other at college, and hopefully that carries on later in their lives and personal interactions.

Because it’s on rapists not to be rapists. Our app is a reminder, and a contractual deterrent against even grey area consent violations, as well as stalking, harassment, and intimate partner violence. (Most sexual assaults occur at the hands of someone the victim knows.)

It’s on all of us to provide better, and more options at school for victims of sexual assault. We pledge to continually make our app agreement more accessible, empowering, and educational as we work with Title IX coordinators, college administration and students in the future.

Our app is not meant to be signed every time two people have sex.

Think of SaSie like a prenup for affirmative consent in college relationships.

As a college student initiating a sexual relationship, you should use this app to formally communicate that you see your partner as an equal, and vow to respect the nuances and limitations of their consent, out of respect for them, and in recognition of the enormous problem of sexual assault on campus today.

As a college student consenting to a sexual relationship, you should use this app to formally confirm termination of your consent- thereby getting your partner to acknowledge (and hopefully respect) the limitations, and outright removal of your consent. Our app obligates your partner to confirm that termination as well- providing a reminder of the terms and conditions of the agreement you both signed.

It’s obvious that schools are doing little-to-nothing that is effective about sexual violence on campus. There’s a lot of noise and movement- but it doesn’t add up to much good for people who have to experience sexual assault, and its horrible aftermath during their time at college.

We feel like there is a long way to go before affirmative consent is a legally viable and enforceable standard at the state level. Until that time, it’s on us to do what we can, now. It’s on you to to be proactive in the politically charged and sexually hostile environment that is college in 2016.

We are not like other consent apps you have heard of.

We made our app free, and without ads or ways to track our users. This is the only reasonable option in an environment where other apps have previously attempted to monetize and trivialize consent.

We do not turn consent and agency into a push-of-the-button game. There are real world consequences for sex, and two responsible adults should absolutely be in agreement about them before they agree to sleep with each other. Whether the sex is casual or not, our app respects the gravity of the situation on your campus, and even the most minor particulars of your consent.

If you were rich, and well looked after by attorneys and handlers- they would strongly advise you to protect yourself legally in a situation as chaotic and dangerous as the college hookup game.

Our protective agreement is completely private, and legally binding between the two individuals signing it. We don’t have user databases, or ways of collecting info from our users at all.

This is the only way we know of to ethically and legally prove mutual ongoing and affirmative consent occurred, or didn’t between any two people.

We don’t utilize weird and invasive audio or video recordings. Your sex life is your business and you should stay far away from any consent app trying to record any part of that.

An attorney of almost 40 years wrote the language in our app agreement, and is CEO and founder of SaSie. We built in one year on a shoestring budget what 425 billion dollars worth of collective endowments for colleges couldn’t, and we believe that it stands a great chance of actually being useful in hastening the end of a most shameful chapter in American academic history.

It’s time for the legacy of gender inequality, and sexual assault on college campuses to end.

Recommend this tool to your college administration, or Title IX coordinator. Share this on your social media networks. This free and private consent tool should be included in the resource kit for every student on every campus in the country.

We have your back. This isn’t a marketing pitch or a sign up call. This is a wake up call. It’s on us all to do something effective about sexual violence on campus today.

Sincerely,

Sam Hornreich.

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