On Monday I detailed how the Washington Post’s survey claiming that one in five women have been sexually assaulted in college is deeply flawed. But there was an aspect of the survey I didn’t get to, one that does not bode well for the future of relationships among students.
Deep in the poll, respondents were asked to decide whether a particular action “establishes consent for more sexual activity.” They were given five examples. The only example that fell clearly in the “yes” category among men and women respondents was “nods in agreement.”
To the example “takes off their own clothes,” men and women were split on whether that established consent. Fifty percent of men said “yes,” while 45 percent said “no.” For women, 52 percent said “no,” while 44 percent said “yes.”
For the example “gets a condom,” men and women agreed that it does not establish consent for further action, although the margin was wider for women than for men.
As for the examples “engages in foreplay such as kissing or touching” and “does not say ‘no,'” the vast majority of men and women said neither action established consent.
This finding (though, to be clear, I question the validity of the whole document) indicates that the future of sex must contain a strict format for establishing consent. Nothing except a question-and-answer session will do, as actions such as foreplay and getting a condom no longer count.
No one actually has sex this way, as I argued in a recent article about attempts by two law professors to criminalize sexual contact that doesn’t follow the Q-and-A format.
I’d like to know the back stories on those responses. Did men say those actions didn’t establish consent because they fear a campus hearing wouldn’t accept them? Or are the behavior police starting to get through?
My guess is the latter, although just because respondents said those things don’t establish consent doesn’t mean they actually practice asking and answering.
