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- DictionaryAf·firm·a·tive con·sent
noun
- 1. explicit, informed, and voluntary agreement to participate in a sexual act: "both parties must give affirmative consent before sex"
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“Affirmative consent is a knowing, voluntary, and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity. Consent can be given by words or actions, as long as those words or actions create clear permission regarding willingness to engage in the sexual activity.
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Nov 12, 2023 · Affirmative consent demands active signs of agreement to sexual activity, not only the lack of a direct refusal. Affirmative consent is, as in the Antioch model, a continual negotiation, not a one-off agreement. Affirmative consent needs to be agreed upon throughout the sexual encounter.
- Lisa Featherstone
Affirmative consent is a clear and unambiguous agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. This concept emphasizes the necessity for active, voluntary, and conscious communication of consent, rather than relying on silence or lack of resistance.
- No Way to Prove Consent
- “Your Guess Is as Good as mine.”
- Affirmative Consent in New York
- Flipping “Innocent Until Proven Guilty”
- The Path Forward on Affirmative Consent
- Learn More
It is difficult, absent some kind of recording, for an accused student to be able to demonstrate that he or she received a verbal or other explicit “yes” for a sexual encounter even when consent was, in fact, given. Because many policies require the indications of consent during sexual activity to be “continuous,” or that explicit consent be given ...
For example, California’s 2014 affirmative consent law requires California’s public and private university and college students to obtain verifiable, “ongoing” affirmative consent throughout the course of a sexual encounter. It is impossible to tell from the bill’s wording how often students must pause to receive explicit consent in order for the c...
Students are also doing a lot of guessing in New York, where their sex lives have been regulated by a state law regarding affirmative consent since 2015. FIRE traveled to New York City in October of that year, just after the bill passed, to ask random college students what they knew and thought about their state’s law. If their answers are any indi...
Those familiar with American law’s fundamental principle of “innocent until proven guilty” may notice that affirmative consent standards effectively flip this principle on its head, leaving accused students guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent. Such a standard amounts to an abandonment of the principles of fundamental fairness in campus...
So where do we go from here?
Advocates and policy-makers alike would be wise to recognize that although it may be sound public policy to adopt curriculums and programming that teaches students the benefits of better communication between potential sexual partners, importing the affirmative consent standard into campus adjudications has broader legal ramifications. Encouraging students to respect each others’ boundaries and to only engage in sexuality that is consensual falls well within the educational mission of institu...
You can read more in FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice. And if you have been found guilty of sexual misconduct for consensual sex solely because of the application of an unjust affirmative consent standard, please consider submitting your case to FIRE.
In general, there are three main ways that states analyze consent in relation to sexual acts: Affirmative consent: Did the person express overt actions or words indicating agreement for sexual acts? Freely given consent: Was the consent offered of the person’s own free will, without being induced by fraud, coercion, violence, or threat of ...
Aug 30, 2019 · Understanding affirmative consent. Nearly half of U.S. states and territories do not have explicit legal definitions of consent, creating legal ambiguity that often impedes the effective prosecution of sexual assault and rape cases.
Mar 26, 2024 · Earlier this month, Queensland became the latest state to pass affirmative consent laws. This means consent is understood as ongoing communication for the purposes of rape and sexual assault...
