(512) 471-3515
Student Services Building - 5th Floor
If there is immediate danger, call 911.
Consent: Sexual violence is not about sexual fulfillment; it is about one person asserting power and control over another. Sexual violence is about not having consent, or agreement, from the victim. However, defining consent can be difficult. Consent is an active agreement to engage in a certain act or be exposed to a certain situation. Consent to one activity (such as kissing or touching) does not imply consent to a different activity, such as intercourse.
Consent is:
giving explicit permission.
only possible when there is equal power.
based on choice.
active, not passive.
determined without pressure or coercion from others.
Consent is NOT:
giving in because of fear.
based on manipulation, deception, or lying.
possible when one person has more power than the other.
possible if one person is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
giggling, changing the subject, or squirming.
Remember, the survivor is NEVER to blame, even if the attacker was an acquaintance, date, friend, or spouse and even if the survivor . . .
has been sexually intimate with that person or others before.
was drinking or using drugs.
froze and did not or could not say "no," or was unable to fight back physically.
was wearing clothes that others may see as seductive.
