We have been covering the absurdity of the “Yes Means Yes” movement, and the violation of fundamental due process rights under the banner of “rape culture,” for quite some time:
In our coverage, we frequently have posted this parody video from 2007.
Now life is imitating parody, as reported in The Washington Examiner (via Instapundit), Advocacy group distributes sexual ‘consent contracts’ to college students:
The Affirmative Consent Project, which advocates for “yes means yes” sexual consent policies, has been distributing “consent contracts” to college students across the country.The contract states in big red letters: “YES! We agree to have SEX!” (emphasis original), and asks participants to take a photo together holding the contract. If a camera can’t be found, then the participants would need to fill out the form included on the back of the contract.The group provided the Washington Examiner with an image of the form, which simply states that on this date (fill-in-the-blank) “We agree to have consensual sex with one another.” The form also provides spaces for two parties to sign and print their names.
This is no joking matter, unfortunately.
The “Yes Means Yes” movement does not address actual consent, but only the procedural formality of consent. Run afoul of that procedure, and a student may find himself (it’s almost exclusively enforced against men) subject to expulsion, suspension and campus kangaroo courts.
In signing a Yes Means Yes (ironically titled the “Enough is Enough” law), NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo was emphatic that the word “Yes” needed to be uttered, even though the law does not require verbal consent exclusively:
“The other person has to say yes. They have to say yes. It’s yes on both sides,” Cuomo said.
The Kelly File covered the New York Law:
Worse still, the Yes Means Yes procedural standard is working its way into the criminal law.
Ashe Schow at The Washington Examiner asks the pertinent question, Has the federal government ever had sex?
The act of sex is not illegal. But if two members of the American Law Institute have their way, it will be — unless you follow their rules.Law professors Stephen J. Schulhofer and Erin Murphy are trying to update the criminal code when it comes to sex offenses, believing current definitions of rape and sexual assault are antiquated. The focus of their draft is on what constitutes consent. It adopts the “yes means yes,” or “affirmative consent” model that was passed in California last year….Schulhofer and Murphy do not intend to make sexual intercourse impossible to construe as an innocent act. But this would be the consequence of their draft. Any act of sex in which permission is not repeatedly requested and granted would put at least one of the parties, usually men, in legal jeopardy. Absent the repeated “May I…?” and affirmative responses, any woman could later have her partner locked up over unexpressed mental reservations. Men could make the same accusations.No one who opposes this legal change argues that consent is unnecessary. But the “yes means yes” standard is so stringent that it would criminalize millions of Americans overnight unless no one reports them.
Think about the power that puts in the hands of prosecutors, and divorce lawyers. Normal human consensual sexual behavior will be subject to the arbitrary and often capricious powers of the state.
Life is imitating parody. But this time it’s not funny.
[Featured Image Source: Sex Consent – The Legal Take On Love]
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