Tonight I’m feeling a bit annoyed by some of the responses to someone I’m following. They were discussing how power imbalances effect consent and there was some resistance to that info.
Consent (not only sexual or romantic) is a lot more than a yes or no. It is informed by context. One piece of that context is whether or not one party has the ability to exercise power over the another. Consent must be freely given and enthusiastic – power imbalances in a given situation can significantly affect the ability to give freely given and enthusiastic consent to such a point where consent cannot be given.
Examples of power imbalances:
- Teacher – student
- Employer – employee
- Police officer – civilian
- Oppressor – oppressed