Yes Means Yes and No Still Means No

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed the new “Yes Means Yes” legislation, an initiative intended to teach high school students about the importance of mutual consent. Also referred to as giving “affirmative consent,” this policy, similar to the one that already exists on California college campuses through a law signed late in 2014, requires that all involved individuals attain “affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent.”

Our society has, for decades, turned a blind eye to the rules of sexual relationships, accepting “consent” as a variety of verbal and nonverbal signals. But with the overwhelmingly large number of atrocities regarding date rape and sexual harassment on college campuses, the state has increased the severity of the consequences of breaking the rules of sexual intimacy and of the guidelines associated with consent. In an effort to better inform students before they step onto a college campus, the “Yes Means Yes” initiative will be implemented into the health curriculum in California high schools, further clarifying and defining the boundaries of “affirmative consent.”

However, though this law is intended to redefine the traditional definition of “consent,” it does not address the issue of limited sexual health education in high schools. If you cannot transmit the information in a clear and concise manner, which would probably occur in a stand-alone class, all the legislation in the world will not matter. This elucidation provides answers to the standard premises of rape, but not to the more complex and often frequent exceptions to the rule.

In the eyes of the law, sexual assault and harassment are often cases of one’s word against that of another.

That being said, we do acknowledge and embrace California’s efforts to set a clear standard for the protection of sexual assault victims. At the same time, we ask for greater efforts to be made earlier in school to condition young students to learn that rape is never acceptable. These transformations begin in the health classes, where students learn more than just the logistics of their ever-changing bodies. Without a stand-alone health curriculum that addresses sexual issues, we lack the knowledge to conduct ourselves in a respectful and healthy manner.