Here’s some uplifting news to read before you leave for your long weekend: California just became the first state to pass a ‘Yes Means Yes’ bill that would require all state-funded colleges and universities to....
adopt “affirmative consent” language in their definitions of consensual sex, Yahoo! News reports.
The California senate unanimously passed the bill in May, and it’s now set to be signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. The law defines intimate consent between people as “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in intimate activity.” In other words, silence or a lack of resistance do not count as consent, and drugs and alcohol will not (not that they ever should) excuse unwanted intimate activity or touching.
Governor Brown must sign the bill into law by September 30th, and if he does, it would be the first time a state would require such strong language to be a part of a school’s intimate assault policies, Claire Conlon, a spokesperson for Senator Kevin de Leon—who championed the bill—told Yahoo!.
We love this idea, not only because it seems to do away with the old “No means no” mentality, but because it champions enthusiastic consent between students. Hopefully, it’ll encourage all parties involved to stand up for themselves and talk about what they’re comfortable with. There’s nothing sexier or healthier than two people who really know what they want and aren’t afraid to say it.
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