California Passes ‘Yes-Means-Yes’ Campus Sexual Assault Bill
Californian lawmakers passed a law on Thursday requiring universities to adopt “affirmative consent” language in their definitions of consensual sex, part of a nationwide drive to curb sexual assault on U.S. campuses.
The measure, passed unanimously by the California State Senate, has been called the “yes-means-yes” bill. It defines sexual consent between people as “an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity”.
The bill states that silence and a lack of resistance do not signify consent and that drugs or alcohol do not excuse unwanted sexual activity.
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