Life

Consent Porn Is a Thing...and It's Kinda Hot

by Emma Cueto

So now that California has passed their "Yes Means Yes" bill, it seems that some people are confused about what this "new" type of consent means — so confused that some people now require an app, I guess. But as UltraViolet's clever video "Consent Porn" points out, the concept really isn't all that complicated. Basically, it boils down to: Don't do things to people that they don't want you to do, and if you're unsure, ask. Simple, really.

In the video, we see two couples, one gay and the other straight. In the first part, a pizza guy shows up to deliver a pizza that the girl at the address in question never ordered, a porn set-up so clichéd it's become classic. But instead of talking his way inside, the delivery boy becomes very upset and apologetic that this girl got something she didn't ask for — which she finds so hot that they start making out (accompanied with a lot of checking to see if everything's OK, of course).

When the video moves on to our second couple, we watch as two guys run into each other in the laundry room where one of them has conscientiously decided not to move his friend's clothes out of the drier in order to use it himself. Because naturally, it's wrong to do things without asking. "There are," he continues seductively, "a lot of things that are wrong to do without asking.

The truth is, as we see here, that this supposedly new idea of affirmative consent really isn't new or confusing. Affirmative consent just means getting confirmation that it's OK to do something rather than assuming that everything's fine unless the other person says no. And that makes sexy times better for everyone.