Justice

Woman Uses 'Gilmore Girls' to Make an Important Point About Consent

August 24th 2016

High-profile sexual assault cases involving Brock Turner and more recently, David Becker have sparked a national conversation around rape and consent. In both cases, their victims were unconscious, which seems like a pretty cut and dry description of nonconsensual sex.

It would seem that some are confused about consent. As Suzannah Weiss at Bustle reports, research has shown that men are more likely to say they will coerce a woman into having sex if that action isn’t described as “rape.” Additionally, 18 percent of college students think someone is consenting as long as he or she doesn’t say “no.”

A recent thread of Tweets by writer Mikki Kendall expresses just how easy consent is to grasp, using a scene from the Gilmore Girls to illustrate the concept:

Kendall went on to describe what consent looks like in simple terms:

So, if consent is so straightforward, what is behind the confusion? The short answer: rape culture. From dating advice that encourages men to "take charge" and "be persistent" to slut-shaming dress codes, rape culture turns the simple notion of consent into a murky topic.

However, Kendall reminds us consent is easy to spot by doing one simple thing: Paying attention.

And those who choose not to do that should be held accountable.

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