I think a lot of our talk about #consent is geared towards sexual situations and preventing sexual violence, which is not bad, just incomplete. While incomplete, the same sort of standards can apply. I have written, very generally, about online consent: here. But here is a quote, breaking down consent:

To put it simply, consent is giving permission to someone, for something. This is very vague, but it is a good starting point for building understanding. It also shows how much consent can be applied to: is the “something” a hug, sex, a meal together, giving your data to someone or some company, a conversation with a stranger, or something else? Different people have tried to categorize different types of consent (i.e. express/explicit consent, implied consent, informed consent, or even “opt-out” consent [which I find to be the opposite of consent]) but because consent is contextual, as the situation changes consent should be revisited as needed.

As I covered in my previous post about sexual consent:

• Consent is about communication
• Consent is informed or specific
• Consent is mutual
• Consent is voluntary or freely given
• Consent is reversible
• Consent should be affirmative or enthusiastic

When talking about #consent, much of the conversation revolves around sexual consent, even I have written about sexual consent before, and have talked about it often as someone who helped with Title IX compliance at the college level. We are used to seeing consent in medical settings, sexual settings, and in relation to privacy, but consent is part of our everyday lives, more than people think.