Opinion: Affirmative consent bill could help tear down rape culture

March 29, 2015

–

Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats.

Connecticut is poised to finally do something about the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses. The legislature needs to see this through, because more than just the safety of the next generation of students is at stake.

The Higher Education and Employment Committee approved a bill this week requiring “affirmative consent” as the standard for sexual consent at state universities and colleges. Here, from the bill, is the definition of affirmative consent:

“‘Affirmative consent’ means an active, informed, unambiguous and voluntary agreement by a person to engage in sexual activity with another person that is sustained throughout the sexual activity and may be revoked at any time by any person.

Basically, affirmative consent means that consent has to be consistently clear and active, and it can be withdrawn at any time.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.

Comments

One response to “Opinion: Affirmative consent bill could help tear down rape culture”

Oldtimer

March 29, 2015

This bill sounds like a big step in the right direction, but still leaves the he says, she says element where a rape is claimed and denied. The most common defense seems to be: Yes it happened, but it was consensual. We are still left with the word of the victim vs the word of the accused and there is no way, short of witnesses, to change that.
Reporting rape as soon as possible can be a big help for investigators gathering evidence to help prove rape. (bruises, etc and apparent state of mind observed during interviews of both victim and accused)

Log in to Reply