No Means No
‘NO’.’ It is one of the first words that we learn. It’s doubly curious then, that there are people, boasting a very rich vocabulary, who still find it difficult to comprehend the meaning of that most basic of terms. This is what I thought when I discovered that there were classes teaching students about the nature of consent in some university campuses in my home country. The success of these studies cannot be measured by students simply understanding the significance of a ‘no’. It is also necessary that there is a clear understanding that if someone is not in a physical condition to consent, that is, if he/she is drunk, drugged or asleep, the immediate assumption must be that it is the equivalent of ‘no’.