Consent Can Be Withdrawn At Any Time and 10 Other Things You Need to Know About Consent

April 12, 2015 / Lex Croucher

(Content Warning: Mention of rape)

We often talk about how important consent is, but what, exactly, is consent?

Here it is – a video from Lex Croucher covering the basics of what it means to consent to sexual activity.

Rape, sexual assault, and coercion are far too common among all types of people. So spread the word, and let’s raise awareness of this clear understanding of consent.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

Consent is someone giving permission or agreeing to something after they’ve thought through whether or not they want to do it.

To be able to give consent, you need to know it’s your decision and not a decision you’ve been pressured into.

In the UK, which is where I live, the law states that both people need to give consent before sex or any type of physical closeness. Even if you’ve engaged in sex or sexual activity with a person before, you still need to get their consent every time. If someone consents to one type of sexual activity, that doesn’t mean they’ve consented to any others. You always need to get permission.

Consent can be withdrawn at any time. A person does not need to say the word no to withhold consent. There are lots of ways that a person might indicate that they don’t want to engage in sexual activity with you. Like body language, or lack of reciprocation.

If they don’t say the word no but are indicating in other ways that they’re not consenting, it’s the same in the eyes of the law. You can’t ever guess or assume that somebody else wants sexual activity just because you do.

A person can’t consent if they’re underage. They can’t consent if they’re asleep. They can’t consent if they are in any way unable to make informed decisions for themselves. If you don’t get consent or you pressure or force someone into sexual activity or sex, that is sexual assault or rape.

I’m going to include some resources in the links below that I hope will help if you want more information or if you experience or have experienced any of this kind of behavior. I’m also including some hotline numbers that you can call anonymously for free to receive professional help and advice.

I got the information in this video mostly from a UK government website called This is Abuse. It’s a website that I know Charlie and some other YouTubers have been working with lately and it is a really useful resource that I’m going to link below. I just want to warn you in advance that a lot of the language is very gendered, and these kinds of things can happen to anyone. I really hope that this is helpful.

To learn more about this topic, check out:

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Lex Croucher is a Youtuber who publishes videos on her Youtube channel tyrannosauruslexxx. You can check her out on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @lexcanroar.