The “affirmative consent” bandwagon is getting awfully crowded. The most recent liberal pol to climb aboard is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who yesterday affixed his signature to the state’s “yes means yes” law. Under the law, students at public and private colleges are required to seek “affirmative consent” prior to engaging in sexual activity.
Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of New York and current senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, warned that Cuomo and his Democratic colleagues were “criminaliz[ing] normal sexual interactions,” and making college campuses “a hostile environment for young men.” McCaughey wrote:
The bill requires “affirmative consent” at each step of the way when two students have sexual contact. Amazingly, that means punishing students who fail to ask “May I unbutton your blouse?” and “May I kiss you?” and wait for the answer. On May 20, Cuomo said there has to be “clear, unambiguous and voluntary agreement” before any “specific sexual activity.”
Others in the conservative media dismissed the law as a simple absurdity. Via the Independent:
[T]he bill was interpreted by Fox News host Megyn Kelly as Mr Cuomo stepping in “and telling you how it’s gonna go” in an Orwellian violation of privacy. A horrified Kelly spoke to political analyst Brit Hume to discuss how outrageous the bill is.
“The cause is good”, she argued. “But it has got to the point of ridiculousness. Verbal consent, every step of the way?”
Hume was equally baffled by the concept of the bill, who concurred: “It suggests that the people who are drawing up these now plans for how consent is given have never had any sex!”
Watch the exchange between Kelly and Hume below:
Some groups have already started distributing consent forms declaring, “On this date [fill in the blank], we agree to have consensual sex with one another.” The form below comes from the website InstantConsent.com, which for $1.99 provides not only the contract but a small bag containing a condom, a pen, and some breath mint.
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
