Consent Isn’t The Stamp Of Approval We Think It Is
If you went to college in the mid to late 2010s, like me, your university likely inundated you with information about how to have sex in college. Personally, I spent three years in a campus sexual assault awareness group, first as a member and later as president, going around to sorority and fraternity houses with fellow peers to educate them about the various, vital components of consensual sex.
I took this knowledge with me when I became a sexual assault victims advocate, a nearly four-year career I left just months ago. I’ve presented not only to college panhellenic councils about the necessity of “safe sex education,” but to police departments, district attorney offices, and state assemblies about consent. It’s only recently that I’ve come to the realization that our understanding of consent as a postmodern concept is deeply flawed. I’m not alone in this realization, either.