The Problems with Affirmative Consent Laws - Video Description

The passage of the affirmative consent bill in California was hailed as a grand victory by many people, as it represents a fundamental shift in the way sexual crimes would be investigated.

However, as I explain in this video, affirmative consent is a horrible provision to write into law, even though its underlying idea is noble.

The status of affirmative consent laws in the United States:
http://affirmativeconsent.com/affirmative-consent-laws-state-by-state/

Full text of the California Bill (SB 967):
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB967

Co-author Bonnie Lowenthal's statement:
http://www.independent.com/news/2014/aug/11/affirmative-consent-u/

"The change shifts the burden of proof from the accuser, who had to show that she resisted, to the accused, who must now show that he sought and received her consent."
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/campus-sexual-assaultaffirmativeconsent.html

Another unbelievable quote by Susan Dwyer, in which she vainly struggles to recriminate anyone who would suggest that this law could create more false accusations:
". . . only a morally repulsive assumption about women’s psychology would lead us to think that the policy [affirmative consent laws] increases the mendacity of those who report sexual assault" - Susan Dwyer

Jessica Valenti on the burden of proof:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121006996.html

Another Feminist Blog on the burden of proof:
https://anotherfeministblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/your-burden-of-proof-is-bullshit/

My own blog post on why the burden of proof is the way it is, and why it should stay that way:
http://venaloid.blogspot.com/2015/02/consent-has-no-double-standard.html

Quote regarding the preponderance of evidence. This is also stated in SB 967, of course. I should note that this particular criticism is specific to the California bill, and is not necessarily a requirement for the basic idea of affirmative consent:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/03/living/affirmative-consent-school-policy/

Carol Tavris, "Who's Lying, Who's Self-Justifying?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SpVVsOUsLo

24:42 - 25:36 -- People say “no” to mean many different things, even to indicate consent.

29:10 - 30:18 -- People do a “dance of ambiguity” to spare each other’s feelings.

30:18 - 31:20 -- A common signal of consent, AND of non-consent, is not doing anything.

33:41 - 33:55 -- Some women drink alcohol to create plausible deniability about their consent in case someone accuses them of being a slut; they intentionally blur the line.

34:35 - 37:05 -- Cognitive dissonance can create false memories about sexual encounters.

38:37 - 40:17 -- Dr. Tavris specifically denounces affirmative consent laws for the above reasons.

Article about one woman's personal blurred line:
http://totalsororitymove.com/is-it-possible-that-there-is-something-in-between-consensual-sex-and-rape-and-that-it-happens-to-almost-every-girl-out-there/

Other related articles worth reading:
http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/30/how-affirmative-consent-laws-criminalize-everyone/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/why-a-college-student-abandoned-affirmative-consent/381650/

College student expelled for BEING ASSAULTED:
https://youtu.be/-uVvVbczN_A?t=108

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Music is "Pure Attitude", by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/