Legally, the definition varies widely across the nation. “Half the states don’t even have a definition of consent,” says Erin Murphy, a professor at New York University School of Law who’s involved in a project to rewrite a model penal code on sex assault. And several states have passed laws requiring affirmative consent — going further than the usual “no means no” standard to require an actual “yes,” though not necessarily verbal. “I told her that just because you consent once, it’s not a blanket consent. It took about five years to achieve the current consent definition , which recognizes that the essence of consent is willingness — but that how willingness is expressed depends on context.

Source: Washington Post December 17, 2017 01:41 UTC