Consent is about communication and respect.
Consent is agreement or permission expressed through affirmative, voluntary words or actions that are mutually understandable to all parties involved, to engage in a specific sexual act at a specific time:
- Consent can be withdrawn at any time, as long as it is clearly communicated.
- Consent cannot be coerced or compelled by force, threat, deception or intimidation.
- Consent cannot be given by someone who is incapacitated, as defined below.
- Consent cannot be assumed based on silence, the absence of “no” or “stop,” the existence of a prior or current relationship, or prior sexual activity.
What it means to be incapacitated
A person is incapable of consent if they are unable to understand the facts, nature, extent, or implications of the situation due to drugs, alcohol, a mental disability, being asleep or unconscious, or based on their age (pursuant to Indiana law). With respect to alcohol and drugs, intoxication and/or impairment are not not presumptively equivalent to incapacitation.
Consent does not exist when the individual initiating sexual activity knew or should have known of the other person’s incapacitation.