Affirmative Consent Bill Signed in California

On Sunday Governor Jerry Brown of California signed legislation that will change the way that colleges and universities define consent among students. Brown is requiring that all schools that receive state funding adopt the new “yes means yes” standard as opposed to the long standing “no means no” approach for sexual encounters on campus.

This new bill for “affirmative consent” comes on the heels of the epidemic of sexual assaults on college campuses and will slide in with the Obama Administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign.

The new law demands that students have affirmative consent at the beginning of a sexual encounter and throughout the entire act. This means that an absence of saying “no” or similar protesting is not enough and that there has to be a definitive yes, which can be revoked at any time.

The new bill is supported by activists that went as far as signing a petition to spur Brown into action last month. While there are some that are weary of this because of the fear that it may worsen the issue of sexual assaults on campus. The jury is still out on that, but what we do know is that the new affirmative consent laws will remove any grey area between students.

Source:

Misner, J. (2014, September 29). California Shifts to ‘Yes Means Yes’ Standard for College Sex. Retrieved October 1, 2014, from http://chronicle.com/article/California-Shifts-to-Yes/149057/