Before a sexual encounter with another individual, it’s important to get consent for that encounter to occur. This is true even when it’s someone that you’ve known for a long time, but it’s especially true if it’s someone that you just met. There need to be clear boundaries.
One thing to remember about doing this is that consent can be limited in any way that the person wants. For instance, they may consent to one activity with you, but not to another. Simply getting consent for the first act not mean you have consent to do anything that you want to do next.
This can sometimes lead to confusion, as one person will claim that what happened was consensual and the other will claim that they never gave permission for it to happen in the first place. There could just be some miscommunication over what consent means.
Consent only applies once
Similarly, having gotten consent in the past does not mean that you have it in the future. There have also been situations where someone has been accused of sexual assault and they claimed that the two of them had been intimate before, so they thought it was fine. But it is not. The past has no bearing on the current events, and this sort of oversight could also lead to legal charges.
What if you’re facing serious charges?
You can see that it’s possible for a mistake that you make honestly to lead to some very serious charges for sexual assault or related crimes. You may have felt that you got the consent you needed, but the other person may believe that you did not. If you find yourself in this position, make sure you know about all of your criminal defense options.
