Navigating relationships and sexuality in college can be exciting and challenging. It can help to understand what consent really means, why it's so important and how to practice it in your own relationships. Here are five things to know about consent. This is true regardless of your current relationship status or sexual history. Think of consent as a continuous agreement between sexual partners. It can be communicated through words or actions that demonstrate a shared understanding and agreement for a given sexual activity.
This practice provides each person with the opportunity to set personal boundaries and understand the boundaries of others. Establishing affirmative consent requires a level of safety and vulnerability to share what we want and remain open to the potential of being disappointed, disappointing someone else or being rejected. Consent is less about agreeing to do something and more about agreeing to try something. P eople canβand often doβchange their minds about what they want to or are willing to do sexually.
If you or a partner signal that they want an activity to stop, that choice must be respected, even if they were initially okay with it. Keep in mind that some people may not feel comfortable communicating their boundaries or desires directly or explicitly.
Many students have little or no experience with sex, may be inexperienced with different types of sex or navigating sex with a new partner. It may be difficult for someone to articulate exactly what they want, especially if the experience is new. It can also be helpful to confirm continued consent. Consent can be expressed both verbally and physically. Sex requires flexibility in how people communicate their willingness to engage in different activities.
Verbal consent means that a person is using words to convey clear permission. Physical consent, like non-verbal body language and facial expressions, conveys permission through actions. Keep in mind that the use of alcohol or drugs, in and of itself, does not render a person incapacitated, nor is it a defense against an allegation of sexual misconduct. Someone who is aware or should know that an individual is incapacitated and engages in sexual activity with that individual, is in violation of university policy and the law.
