Affirmative consent: What is it? And how can it help to transform sexual violence and coercion?

In campaigns against sexual violence, the issue of consent is central. It’s long been the focus of research, legislation and activism.

Most recently, the Senate inquiry into sexual assault has again brought consent to the forefront of the discussion. A unanimous report highlights the dire state of consent education and law in Australia, calling for a cultural overhaul in university settings, and law reform at the federal level.

The significance of sexual violence as a social problem cannot be understated and, recently, law reform and awareness-raising efforts are focused on changing the way we think about this type of violence.

Stereotypical tropes of sexual violence depict overt and explicit modes of assault, which are an integral component of this broader social issue. But this can sometimes mean that the more insidious, covert aspects of sexual violence, such as coercion, receive less attention.

Evidence suggests that despite ongoing efforts to shift cultural thinking, coercive sexual behaviours and misunderstanding regarding consent remains a concerning social problem. As highlighted by the current Senate inquiry, many young people are confused by what consent actually entails, which can add to the trauma of harassment or assault that has occurred.

Coercion is a mode of behaviour where a person uses power both distinctly and indistinctly to manipulate and control another person or persons’ behaviour.

It’s a common tactic in sexual encounters and intimate relationships, used by perpetrators to control victims or survivors.

Scholars have critiqued the normalisation of sexually coercive behaviours in what’s described as a “rape culture”. This is a cultural ethos, or mindset, characterised by sexually coercive norms, victim-blaming, stigma, legislative inadequacy, and associated low reporting rates of sexual violence.

While conservative estimates suggest that one in five Australian women will experience sexual violence during their lifetime since the age of 15, the reporting rate of sexual violence crimes in Australia is remarkably low at 13%. Such a low rate suggests the incidence of this violence is likely far higher.

Importantly, experts contend that a considerable issue regarding the prevalence of sexual violence is misconceptions about what actually constitutes sexual violence.

For example, last year, the Australia’s federal Department of Social Services released a research report finding that approximately 28% of Australian young people agreed with the following statement:

“Rape results from men not being able to control their need for sex.”

The same percentage of young people agreed that “when a man is very sexually aroused, he may not even realise that the woman doesn’t want to have sex”.

Considerable work has been done in acknowledging the significance of education around consent, in preventative measures of this type of violence, and to eradicate this culture of coercion.

So, what is affirmative consent?

Legislatively, this model of consent includes a changed legal definition of consent to one that highlights the importance of seeking and receiving explicit, voluntary consent.

This means each person participating in a sexual encounter is responsible for “checking in” and otherwise ensuring all parties want to engage in this encounter.

A crucial characteristic of affirmative consent is that it’s not merely a case of relying on the absence of no, assuming yes through interpreted body language or applying consent of one sexual act to all sexual acts thereafter. To prioritise sexual health and wellbeing, consent needs to be an ongoing and reciprocal process.

Previous research has persistently raised problems about the issues regarding subjective interpretation and reliance on social norms to determine what constitutes a breach of consent in sexual encounters.

While legal definitions of consent have changed over time to include more specifications about violations, cultural thinking and the inevitable influence of norms on our understanding of consent remains harmful.

The affirmative model of consent attempts to challenge areas that have previously been clouded by social expectations and problematic coercive norms, highlighting clear parameters about what constitutes consent.

For example, the framework states that consent can be withdrawn at any time, and sexual partners (whether casual or ongoing) need to keep an open dialogue about consent. This might look like an ongoing conversation, with questions like “Is this OK?”, in an effort to move away from “No means no” to “Yes means yes”.

Here, the importance of affirmative consent is in the shifting of responsibility from potential victim/survivors of sexual violence to the perpetrators. Deepening our legal and cultural understanding of consent provides us with the knowledge to hold them accountable – perpetrators of violence often use coercion as a tactic to obtain consent.

Within the framework of affirmative consent, how consent is obtained is crucial – this is part and parcel of the steps that need to be taken to move away from a culture of victim-blaming associated with sexual violence.

It’s intended to provide clearer definitions and fewer “grey areas” in determining whether consent has been obtained, and whether coercion occurred with relevance to the encounter.

The capacity of this framework to clearly define affirmative, enthusiastic consent has the potential to challenge ongoing societal norms regarding sexual practices, intimacy, gendered roles, and coercive scripts that are otherwise normalised and romanticised in our society.

It’s important to work towards reforming the current coercive culture in three key ways.

Firstly, addressing current legislative inadequacies in finding better social justice outcomes for victim-survivors of sexual violence.

Secondly, wider implementation of this model as a means of intervention in current policy, with potential for a consistent, Australia-wide framework.

And finally, as a means of prevention of sexual coercion and violence, affirmative consent models could be incorporated into educational curriculum programs.