What is Consent?
In Scotland, consent is legally defined as free agreement.
This means, all those involved must agree to the sexual activity and do so freely, this means they can’t be forced, pressured, persuaded or coerced into saying yes.
If someone says yes because they were forced to or have no choice their yes does not count as consent. The law in Scotland says that if you do not have consent for a sexual act for example: kissing, touching each other or sexual intercourse then this is an offence.
There are laws in Scotland that tell us what age a person must be to freely agree to sexual acts. These vary depending on the sexual act but 16 years old is the age of consent for sexual intercourse and 18 years old is the age of consent for sexual images.
Examples of when there is no consent:
When someone is incapable of consenting because of the effect of alcohol or any other substance such as drugs.
When someone is asleep or unconscious.
When someone agrees because they are unlawfully detained
When someone agrees because violence or threats of violence.
When someone agrees because the other person is pretending to be someone else.
Consent can be withdrawn at any time, including during a sexual act.
Just because someone consented to something before doesn’t mean they consented to it happening again.
You may not be ready for anything sexual, and you may never be, and that’s okay. It’s always good to know about consent though, because consent is all about your right to choose what you want to do with your body which is super important!
Remember consent should be…
Sober: If you and/or your partner are very drunk or have taken drugs you and/or your partner can’t consent.
Enthusiastic: If you are about to have sex with someone and you are not sure how they feel about it, you should check with them that they are into it and enjoying it too.
Active: Just because someone might not say no doesn’t mean you have consent. Sometimes people are too scared to say no or freeze up as a natural reaction to being nervous. So, make sure that they actively give you consent. Pay attention to what they are saying, body language, facial expressions, or tension of the body. If you are not sure ASK!
Continual: Just because your partner wants to do something now doesn’t mean you always have consent from then onwards. Again, check in with your partner and make sure you share consent the next time. Agreeing to one sexual act does not mean you agree to all others, you need to make sure your partner is agreeing.
