Celebrate Consent Month with NCSF
Things You Should Know About Consent
Consent is understanding what will be happening and voluntarily doing it while respecting the limits of everyone involved.
Consent is revocable: Anyone can revoke consent to anything at any time during the activity. Even when a person is in a power exchange relationship in which they agreed to give up contemporaneous consent for the duration of the relationship, the submissive has the legal right to stop any activity at any time.
Consent is a form of communication: Communication is essential so consent can be clearly given, modified, and withdrawn. You need to have a good understanding of the consent that is given and the ability to communicate during the scene.
Consent is informed: You have a responsibility to understand the desires and limits of each other, including health issues and the risks involved in what you’re doing.
Consent is choice: You must give consent voluntarily, without being subjected to threats, fraud, coercion, or deceit. If you are pressured into doing something or pressured into entering into a power exchange relationship, you have not given consent in either the ethical or the legal sense. If someone gives consent, then you have an ethical responsibility to be sure that such consent was given voluntarily and not coerced.
Consent is given within limits: Consent is not a blank check. You have an ethical and legal obligation to be sure that the activities you do are within the scope of what was consented to. The scope and limits of the previously given consent may have been made clear at the beginning of the relationship, or it may be clear from the participants’ previous conduct during the relationship. If there is any doubt at the time, however, there is an ethical and legal responsibility to clarify that doubt.
Consent is given with a sound mind: You must have enough mental capacity to give consent, and you have a legal obligation to make sure that your partners are of a sound mind. To consent, you must be in a clear-headed state of mind, not impaired by alcohol, prescription medicine, or recreational drugs. Re-negotiating limits in the middle of a scene with a partner who is in subspace may result in consent that is not given with a sound mind.
Sexual Health Awareness Month is also celebrated in September.
National Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month, promoted by members of Congress, also takes place in September to highlight issues of sexual assault on college campuses and emphasize the need for consent education.