There is no such thing as prospective consent.

Other May 31, 2016 Comments: 10

I’ve been talking to some prostitution advocates on Twitter, and it seems like there’s a basic point that they simply don’t understand: there is no such thing as prospective consent. You cannot consent for something that will happen later. You have to give consent in the moment.

If a girl agrees with have sex with a guy later on, and then she doesn’t feel like having sex, and the guy has sex with her anyway, that’s called rape. It’s not a consensual sex act. If you don’t agree in the moment, there’s no consent. Any form of contractual work where consent is given prospectively is not consensual, by definition. Prostitution is not consensual, by definition.

I don’t understand what is so hard to understand about this.

10 thoughts on “There is no such thing as prospective consent.”

  1. Brian L June 1, 2016 at 06:39

    Yes. Frankly, if you’re having sex, and your partner says stop, one should do so. He/she has a reason for saying it, even if you don’t understand at the time.

  2. Brian L June 1, 2016 at 06:41

    Yes. Frankly, if you’re having sex, and your partner says stop, you should do so. He/she has a reason for saying it, even if you don’t understand at the time.

  3. Deep Thinking July 11, 2016 at 12:33

    “Any form of contractual work where consent is given prospectively is not consensual, by definition.”

    Where consent is only given prospectively – it could be given in the moment, but that would be incidental to the contract .

    • Francois Tremblay July 11, 2016 at 15:06

      Not following you.

      • Deep Thinking July 12, 2016 at 11:08

        Any form of contractual work – indeed, any form of work – where consent is given in the moment is consensual, by definition. That the work is contractual in no way guarantees that consent will be given in the moment, however. For example (kudos to Brian L), if you’re having sex, and your partner is consenting to it in the moment, that is consensual, even if you entered into a contract to have sex with them.

        • Francois Tremblay July 12, 2016 at 15:03

          Great, but the contract had nothing to do with it.

          • Deep Thinking July 13, 2016 at 14:58

            Yep.

  4. Random person August 2, 2017 at 20:22

    I realise this is old, but I would like to disagree with a minor facet of your argument.

    Prospective consent is definitely a thing. But it’s not a binding contract. One can withdraw their consent at any time. If you are saying consent has to be contemporaneous, then by definition you are saying you have to essentially rape someone and see if they are happy to go along or tell you to stop. You require prospective consent.

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