# 'Yes Means Yes' is the Law for Sex on New York College Campuses
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 18, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483 "2015-07-18T03:50:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/1 "2015-07-18T03:50:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What if you had to ask if it was okay
> to put your hand on the other person’s butt during foreplay? What if you had to
> ask again before touching her breast? What if there was a law that said you had
> to do this?
>
> In New York, there is now on all college campuses. A bill signed into law July 7 requires both parties to obtain consent for sex and each nibble and caress that sometimes paves the way. The law applies only on college campuses. At its heart is a simple concept: instead of “No Means No,” it’s “Yes Means Yes.”
> **['Can I put my hand there?': New York law changes the rules of the college...](https://www.syracuse.com/state/2015/07/can_i_put_my_hand_there_new_york_law_changes_the_rules_of_the_college_hook-up.html)**
>
> New York's "Yes Means Yes" law requires college students to get consent at every step when having sex. The law could someday be extended to everyone.
But is this adequate? Isn’t it time to go back to college regulations of 50+ years ago where college dormitories were single sex and sneaking into an opposite sex dormitory could get you expelled? This would cut down on the opportunities for sexual assault.
---
### Author:  [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/2 "2015-07-18T04:03:41Z")
Thanks progressives for telling us that we’re having sex incorrectly! If this is such a good idea, why not implement it for all of New York state? How about we start with degenerate politicians and their mistresses first?
One would think, if our high courts had any shred of legal integrity, that laws like this would be struck down on the same imaginary “right to privacy” that got sodomy and abortion legalized. But alas, that will not be so, because courts are purely political institutions that pretend to actually interpret the law.
Laws like this are plainly meant to punish men (who are culturally predisposed to take agency during sex) and are based on fallacious and fraudulent rape statistics. College campuses are extremely safe and, despite feminists’ hysterical claims, do not have rates of rape that surpass lawless African war zones that have lacked functioning government for decades. If college was actually as bad as claimed, no one would attend.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/3 "2015-07-18T04:11:44Z")
> [@Construct](#):
>
> One would think, if our high courts had any shred of legal integrity, that laws like this would be struck down on the same imaginary “right to privacy” that got sodomy and abortion legalized.
Sodomy? Are we perhaps referring to gays?
---
### Author:  [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/4 "2015-07-18T04:12:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Sodomy? Are we perhaps referring to gays?
Sure. They need all the abortions.
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/5 "2015-07-18T04:42:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Sodomy? Are we perhaps referring to gays?
Sodomy has traditionally been used in statutes to mean anal sex.
> **[sodomy](https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sodomy)**
>
> Definition of sodomy in the Legal Dictionary by The Free Dictionary
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/6 "2015-07-18T04:53:02Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> Sodomy has traditionally been used in statutes to mean anal sex.
>
> [Sodomy legal definition of sodomy](http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sodomy)
I am asking what _he_ is referring to.
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### Author:  [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/7 "2015-07-18T05:23:43Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Sodomy? Are we perhaps referring to gays?
Sure. Gay sex, to be clear.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/8 "2015-07-18T05:26:10Z")
> [@Construct](#):
>
> Sure. Gay sex, to be clear.
But(just to be clear) you have no problem with a manly man having anal sex with a woman?
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/9 "2015-07-18T05:30:24Z")
Practically speaking, though, isn’t this still going to boil down in court to “he said, she said?” Just like a “No Means No” law?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/10 "2015-07-18T05:32:40Z")
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> Practically speaking, though, isn’t this still going to boil down in court to “he said, she said?” Just like a “No Means No” law?
Not if you video.
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### Author:  [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/11 "2015-07-18T05:34:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> But(just to be clear) you have no problem with a manly man having anal sex with a woman?
No, sexual deviancy is not conducive to the long term health of a society, and we should work to promote healthy and reasonable sexuality. But the Texas law in Lawrence v. Texas didn’t seem to prohibit anal sex between heterosexual partners, at least in my quick reading of it.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/12 "2015-07-18T05:48:03Z")
> [@Construct](#):
>
> No, sexual deviancy is not conducive to the long term health of a society, and we should work to promote healthy and reasonable sexuality. But the Texas law in Lawrence v. Texas didn’t seem to prohibit anal sex between heterosexual partners, at least in my quick reading of it.
Thank you for clarifying that you are using “sodomy” as a euphemism for gay relationships.
Back to the topic-Is there a direct link to the law itself?
---
### Author:  [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/13 "2015-07-18T06:40:50Z")
Somebody should come up with a written form:
I, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, do, on this \_\_\_ Day of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **, 20** , give \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ permission to:
A. Hold hand Lightly/Firmly (circle one) with his/her hand
B. Use lips to contact the follwing parts of my body:
.
.
.
.
.
.
C -----
If nothing else, they will (hopefully) become historical memorabilia to document the idiocy of the current “Rape Culture” hysteria.
Sadly, they will probably be quickly required by law.
The ultimate in headboard notching…
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### Author:  [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/14 "2015-07-18T07:09:53Z")
Chapelle Show had that as a sketch like ten years ago. The Sexual Contract thing.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/15 "2015-07-18T09:12:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Not if you video.
So, some sort of helmet-cam?
I’ll get my coat.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/16 "2015-07-18T09:42:08Z")
> [@pool](#):
>
> Chapelle Show had that as a sketch like ten years ago. The Sexual Contract thing.
All this hand-wringing about overly formalizing college intimacy is nothing new. It was going on years and years ago.
IIRC, Johnny Carson had something like this on The Tonight Show much longer ago than that – 25 years maybe? Some college (Ohio State I think?) had published some formal “guidelines” on the whole process of “making out”, requiring that the participating party of the male part must ask the participating party of the female part for explicit permission at each and every step of the process.
Someone sent Carson a copy of that. He brought it onto his show, starting his monologue with remarks to the effect: “I’ve just fired my entire joke-writing staff. With Ohio State to write my material for me, who needs them?” He then proceeded to read the guidelines.
Anybody else but me remember that?
ETA: OMG!!!1!!1 **Construct** used the words “feminist” and “hysteria” in one sentence! In consecutive words even! Give him a break – he’s rather new here. He doesn’t yet know what a massive shit-storm we had here last time that happened!
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### Author:  [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/17 "2015-07-18T10:23:04Z")
> [@Construct](#):
>
> No, sexual deviancy is not conducive to the long term health of a society, and we should work to promote healthy and reasonable sexuality. But the Texas law in Lawrence v. Texas didn’t seem to prohibit anal sex between heterosexual partners, at least in my quick reading of it.
What about a wife using a strap-on dildo to anally penetrate her (straight) husband?
---
### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/18 "2015-07-18T21:28:29Z")
Some legal expert can probably clarify here, but isn’t this a guilty-until-proven-innocent system? Doesn’t it put the burden on the accused to prove that a crime did \*not \*happen, rather than on the prosecution to prove that a crime \*did \*happen? Is this Constitutional?
---
### Author:  [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/19 "2015-07-18T22:16:07Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#):
>
> What about a wife using a strap-on dildo to anally penetrate her (straight) husband?
You sickos with your sic, sick, sicko imaginations are gonna be number 1 on the list!!
(_Sorry, let’s tone that down a bit, shall we?_)
If he likes being penetrated anally, he ain’t straight!
(_A trifle more, please._)
What two consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedroom is no concern of mine.
(_See, that wasn’t hard was it?_)
Speaking of something not being hard…
(_Don’t push it._)
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483/20 "2015-07-18T22:21:31Z")
> [@usedtobe](#):
>
> Somebody should come up with a written form:
>
> I, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, do, on this \_\_\_ Day of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **, 20** , give \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ permission to:
>
> A. Hold hand Lightly/Firmly (circle one) with his/her hand
> B. Use lips to contact the follwing parts of my body:
>
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
>
> C -----
>
> If nothing else, they will (hopefully) become historical memorabilia to document the idiocy of the current “Rape Culture” hysteria.
> Sadly, they will probably be quickly required by law.
>
> The ultimate in headboard notching…
Won’t work. Consent can be withdrawn–it’s kinda the most important part of affirmative consent.
And, no, affirmative consent isn’t inherently this bad. It’s really just supposed to mean that “she didn’t say no” is not a valid defense. It doesn’t mean you have to prove she said yes. It’s really less of a legal thing and more of a conceptual change. Stop thinking about “being okay with sex” as the default.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-means-yes-is-the-law-for-sex-on-new-york-college-campuses/725483.md?page=2)