Consent should be a simple enough concept. But in a society that seems to think rape is acceptable, people are still getting it wrong.

Take former Stanford swimming standout Brock Turner, who insisted during his rape trial that his unconscious victim wanted to have sex with him.

Judge Aaron Perksy, who presided over the trial in California, sentenced Turner to a mere six months in the county jail with the strong potential that three months will be shaved off of that sentence for good behavior.

Persky’s justification for the light punishment: “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him…I think he will not be a danger to others.”

Perhaps if Turner, Persky and Turner’s father—who defended his son’s actions in a letter to the court—would have looked at consent from a British perspective, they’d have understood better that rape is rape. There is no such thing as consent when a person is unconscious.

Thankfully, a video passed along by the Thames Valley Police made the whole concept quite simple—in the most British way possible.

Please share this video far and wide, so that anyone who is confused about consent can finally understand with certainty.

There is no excuse for rape, and it is never okay.

 

Author: Amanda Christmann

Editors: Nicole Cameron; Renée Picard

Image: YouTube screenshot

Video: Emmeline May