While discussions of sex safety, both on and off campus, have been numerous, there have been few talks of a regular definition for the most basic principle: consent.

“Consent is between two adults, first of all,” said Coordinator of Women’s Studies Emily Kelley. “It can never be between an adult and someone below the legal age of consent. It has to mean that they’re not only sober, but that neither one has been pressured in any way, obviously or subtly, to answer in the affirmative or to give way to sex. That’s consent.”

According to a study done by University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, on behalf of the UMatter program, 55 percent of college students said unwanted sexual contact was the largest issue on campus.

“[Consenting] should make you both feel closer and more connected, more respected,” according to the UMatter site. “If the mood can be ruined with a question, it probably wasn’t so hot to begin with. The mood is really ruined when your partner feels uncomfortable, disrespected or unsafe.”

In scenarios where two people are in a relationship and one is being pressured into sex, any pressure at any point means the sex is not consensual, Kelley said.

“Denying the advances is denying the advances,” she said. “If you don’t want to have sex, you still have to make sure your wishes are known. It just depends on who your partner is and how that person takes rejection, because basically that’s what you’re doing. You’re rejecting that person’s advances.”

Consent is dependent on the state of a person’s consumption of drugs or alcohol, said sophomore Rachel Cole.

“In my mind, consent is the explicit ‘yes’ statement that determines whether or not the action or activity can continue,” Cole said. “An intoxicated no is still a no. And if the individual is highly intoxicated, then they, in my opinion, cannot effectively consent.”

Situations involving drug and alcohol use mean that the person who is under influence cannot legally consent, Kelley said.

“In a case like that, the person has evidently passed out so the assumption is that they were so inebriated or stoned that they couldn’t possibly have given consent,” she said.

In the event where a woman (or man) says no repeatedly and later enjoys it, it is still rape, Kelley said.

“If she went to press charges later on, that’s considered rape,” she said.

Verbal protest is not the only way to describe that you don’t want to have sex with someone.

“I think the most clear-cut definition of consent is a verbal affirmation from both parties,” said sophomore Andrea Shipley. “However, it usually doesn’t happen this way. Realistically, consent would be something more along the lines of a lack of protest from the people involved, whether it be verbal or not.”

When it comes to protesting a sexual act, it doesn’t matter whether the protest is verbal, physical or even in the shape of obvious discomfort, Kelley said.

“Consent is really easy to define,” she said. “It’s yes. The old line of ‘no means no’ is really where it is. Even if you don’t say it, if you just push the person away or if you give signals or sometimes even if you don’t give signals [and] you just don’t want it to happen, it’s still no. No is no – it’s just that simple.”

Students questioning how to recognize consent should see organizations such as consentissexy.org or by typing in UMatter on Google.