And do women really need yet one more -- albeit, witty and sassy -- means of guarding-up? On top of figuring out a buddy system, choosing a route to walk home, and protecting our drinks, do we now need to memorize a phone number to fend off unwanted sexual advances?

Sexualization of consent

The "Consent is Sexy" campaign is a well-intentioned, yet arguably counter-productive effort to address violence against women. The framework is effective for many reasons: it is catchy and appealing to its target audience of teenagers, it subverts the dominant misogynist notion of coercion as sexy, and it lays the ground for seeking consent as a desirable part of sex.

However, does "Consent is Sexy" teach us that consent is actually a necessary and non-negotiable part of negotiating our intimacies and sexual experiences? Does it challenge male entitlement to their partners' bodies even if their partner does not give consent?

Colonialism at the root

Furthermore, given the disproportionate magnitude of sexual violence against those who are deemed inherently "undesirable" and hence "rape-able" -- Indigenous women, migrant women, Black women, trans women, poor women, sex workers, women with disabilities -- it is potentially disastrous to sexualize consent and link it to desirability.

For example, the systemic ideology that upholds the colonial entitlement to and pillage of Indigenous lands without consent is furthered by the colonial construction of Indigenous women as sexually available regardless of consent. 

Male allies

The flipside of "Consent is Sexy" campaigns is the surge in "Real Men" feminist campaigns. We've all seen the meme of Justin Timberlake holding up a "Real Men Don't Buy Girls" sign. Inherent to such (transphobic) "man-up" messages is the assumption that men can rape but shouldn't; that men ultimately have the power to determine the culture of consent; and that some men are "good" and others are "bad." ... Males in the movement should (and can) be challenged and encouraged to act not like a virtuous 'real man,' but like humans."

>> Rather than blurring the boundaries of consent culture by constantly appealing to masculinity, or linking consent to sexualized discourses, or placing the burden on women to avoid sexual assault through strategies including false phone numbers, we need to unequivocally link consent to the war on women's lives, lands and labour. Practicing consent is a model of accountability that affirms dignity and is most meaningful when it centres the intersections of oppression and colonialism.