Consent: why it still matters in 2018

End of The F*cking World. Season 1, Episode 3. 2017.

 

The issue with consent in 2018 is the fact that consent is stilllll a topic of debate. After public outrage, France has only just set its legal age of consent to 15 (BBC) and it’s a huge red flag to me that in many liberal societies so many people still don’t understand what consent really means.

What is consent?

According to the Crown Prosecution Services, ‘Someone consents to vaginal, anal or oral penetration only if s/he agrees by choice to that penetration and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice. Consent to sexual activity may be given to one sort of sexual activity but not another, e.g. to vaginal but not anal sex or penetration with conditions, such as wearing a condom. Consent can be withdrawn at any time during sexual activity and each time activity occurs’.

What is not consent? 

Now that I have illustrated what consent is, I am going to describe actions which do not constitute consent. Consent is not, using force or threat to initiate sexual activity. If a person has not willingly agreed to sex, it is rape. If, at the time you have initiated sexual activity the person is under the influence of alcohol/drugs, asleep, below the age of consent (16 in the UK) or suffers from a mental disability – they cannot legally consent to sex. If you initiate and proceed to engage in sexual activity under these circumstances, you have committed an act of rape. A person cannot fully consent to sexual activity if you deceive them of your true identity.

So, why are so many people still confused about consent? The idea that women’s bodies are governed by men is enshrined in historically sexist institutions and continues to prevail. The media creates TV shows, movies, magazines, adverts, music videos and so on, through the male gaze; women are portrayed as an object of heterosexual male desire. Take Hollywood, an outsider observing the film industry can clearly see how people may have internalised images of male sexual dominance. The same goes with the porn industry. In 2013, much controversy was caused over the ‘blurry’ attitude towards consent in the ‘Blurred Lines‘ song lyrics and it was eventually banned by many student unions.

We need to ensure that the conversation becomes one that educates and prevents rape culture. Feminists such as, Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie, have publicly spoken about consent. The past year has seen more women than ever, publicly come out with sexual harassment allegations. The #MeToo movement went viral in October last year after celebrities endorsed the movement – originally created by social activist Tarana Burke -on social media. Amber Rose, who has been heavily criticised for her ‘overtly-sexual’ body image, decided to hit back at her critics becoming a surprising new feminist-icon. She launched the Amber Rose Slutwalk LA aiming to ‘shift the paradigm of rape culture’ by destroying the misconception that the way a woman dresses implies whether she will or will not be open to sex. Instead, employing facts that represent how women from all professions and walks of life, are vulnerable to rape.

This raises the question, what does an inappropriate versus respectable woman look like? And, who makes this decision? Many people within our society, do not understand that the way a woman dresses is not always a reflection of her sexual behaviour. The sooner we learn this, the quicker we will be able to grasp the concept of consent.