Lately you can’t really turn on the news or go through social media without hearing about people talking about sexual assault, sexual harassment, unwanted groping or sliding into someone’s DMs with some fresh dick pics nobody asked for. Of course, every time women talk about this sort of unwanted behavior, you hear people worried about “gray areas” and miscommunications.
But to be perfectly fair: there are a lot of people who really are worried about miscommunications. They are honestly terrified that they will misread things and end up making a horrible mistake that they can’t take back.
The thing is, avoiding these “grey areas” and miscommunications is actually really easy. You use your words and ask. You get your partner’s enthusiastic consent.
And a lot of us don’t do this. In fact, we treat asking for consent as this weird, awkward thing. But it doesn’t have to be. The key to asking someone for their consent, whether it’s for a touch, a kiss or more, is to treat it as something you do that increases the thrill of the moment.
Episode Highlights:
- Why so few of us think to ask for enthusiastic consent
- How society has trained us to think that consent is unnecessary, awkward and unpleasant
- What asking for consent actually looks like
- How to ask to kiss someone in a way that will turn them on
- Why respecting the “no” is so important
…and so much more
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This article originally appeared on Doctor Nerd Love
Photo: Screenshot