According to the article "Where Yes Means Yes: California Passes First Affirmative Consent Law," California just passed a law stating that consent before sex must be conveyed in a direct, verbal or nonverbal way. This means that lack of resistance or objection can no longer be viewed as consent. Thus, a person who is drunk or unconscious is unable to give consent. California is now the first state to have an affirmative consent law. The law states, “Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time.”
This law is extremely important. American society currently exhibits rape culture. Rape culture is a phrase describing a culture that promotes objectification, sexualization, and victim blaming, which all normalize and trivialize the occurrence of rape. Modern feminists are working hard towards fighting victim-blaming and the overall commonplace of rape in our culture. This law is a major step towards diminishing rape culture. The current laws in all other states allow the prevalence of rape and victim blaming. Without passing these laws, sexual violence will continually be used as a means of asserting power over the victim.
Rape and sexual assault are extremely physically and psychologically harmful to women (although they can also affect men). Not only do these actions violate and disempower women, they also reinforce the traditional, masculine ideals of violence and aggression. In order to work towards a more peaceful and humane culture, America needs to take further steps to prevent sexual violence. California’s affirmative consent law is an important contribution to the advancement of women’s rights and our society as a whole.
This law is so important and can change so many women's lives. Something that seems so simple to me yet is apparently really hard for some people to grasp is that rape is never the victims fault. In what other situation would people say that it is the victims fault? Burglary? Murder? This is the definition of victim: a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action. It should be as simple as that.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that putting any sort of blame for rape on the victim is simply wrong. However, I feel like implementing a law that allows women to not resist sexual action in anyway but still claim rape, seems like would cause more rape as women don't feel obligated to reject their rapper, which could potentially be enough to stop the raping in the first place. On the other hand, it also might make men more aware of the fact that to engage in sex they must first receive consent. I think it could go either way.
ReplyDeleteWow this law is fantastic. Things like this show a small step in the right direction in repairing sociaties passive views on rape and rape culture. Hopefully this law reaches worldwide soon enough because it has potential to change many lifes. Great post.
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