Importance of Consent, No means NO
The importance of Consent is the most important part of any sexual encounter. If you do have sex without consent it is illegal and you can go to jail.
What constitutes consent?
A recent survey found that everybody agreed that consent was essential when it came to sex. And I mean everybody interviewed in the survey.
I was impressed.
If everyone knows that consent is essential and that without consent you are committing a crime, how come we have such high rape statistics?
I understand that rape is a touchy subject and that it seldom has anything to do with sex and a lot to do with power. Rape is completely unacceptable and a violation of human dignity. In its worst form it leaves the victim mutilated, if not dead.
58 Countries
In 58 countries, raping your wife is not a crime. It is her duty to spread her legs wide and take it any time he wants to. I find the concept repugnant.
Consent as I was saying is an important part of the sexual transaction.
The levels of communication required in a BDSM (Bondage) relationship far exceed what we have in our ordinary vanilla relationships. A play needs unambiguous verbal consent.
For those of you who are unsure about what I mean – let me spell it out.
‘May I blindfold you and cuff your wrists behind your back?’ she asks. He replies, ‘Yes, you may blindfold me and cuff my wrists behind my back.’ Unequivocal, unambiguous consent.
Now imagine if we could do that kind of communication in our common garden variety relationships.
You can withdraw Consent at any time.
In a BDSM relationship use a safe word to withdrawn consent. The play stops, immediately. It’s the way partners stay safe.
We all know what happens when trust leaves, it’s gone forever.
The problem with consent is so few of us have actually said yes! We may think that consent is implied, when it’s not. And then things go wrong. Think about it, have you ever been asked or asked, ‘May I have sex with you?’ or how about ‘may I kiss you, lick you? Etc.
No! What a surprise!
Have you ever received a reply, ‘Yes you may.’
It reminds me of a story I heard at university and it may be an urban myth, but it’s a good story. A man goes up to a woman at a party and says, ‘What would you say to a little F***?’ and she replies ‘Hello little F***!’ Brilliant! I’ve been waiting 30 years to use that line.
The point is that 99.9% of us never ask and never give actual verbal consent.
In the same survey 100% agree that consent is vital to a sex transaction. How they get consent was the enxt question.
This is when the squirming began.
Nobody had actually asked or even said yes. Consent was implied and here is where it gets really terrifying, they all said – ‘well nobody stopped me!’
It would seem than that consent is implied because you didn’t say no.
I don’t know about you but I can’t even say no comfortably to the telemarketer who calls me at dinner time.
Saying no to someone is one of those things we have to go on self help courses to learn how to do. It is the word NO that stands between you and a criminal offense.
So what if we turn this upside down and ensure that consent means something other than not saying no. What if consent is simply to say verbally and unequivocally, yes.
Nothing is assumed.
We may be able to save ourselves from a difficult he said, she thought, conversation.
I asked my family about how they all get consent. Yes we do talk about sex as if it is a normal part of life and conversation. It would seem that even in my house we have issues.
‘Would you like to come over, watch Netflix and chill?’ seems to count as asking for consent. I’m putting a stop to that way of thinking right now.
I’m going to suggest, no beg you to ask for consent from your partner the next time you want to have sex. It is actually really sexy!
If you would like to contact me with comments or suggestions email me – [email protected]