Consent is the capacity to sense, communicate, negotiate and revise voluntary agreement.
Consent is the capacity to sense, communicate, negotiate and revise voluntary agreement.
It requires meaningful choice.
A yes produced by fear, coercion or the realistic absence of another option is not equivalent to freely choosing.
Consent also changes.
Something welcomed yesterday may not be wanted today. Someone can begin an interaction willingly and later decide to stop.
Mature consent therefore includes the capacity to notice uncertainty.
“I’m not sure.”
“Slow down.”
“I need more information.”
“Not yet.”
Those are not failures of consent. They are consent functioning properly.