Four Necessary Components of Consent

Communicating Consent must take

willingness and/or place without
desire is a coercion, threat, or
necessary force or under duress.
component of
consent. All parties involved
Communicatory must be of sound
cues include both mind to consent to
nonverbal and sexual activity.
verbal signals that Impairments to
should ideally be soundness of mind
discussed and include intoxication
agreed upon by the (via alcohol, drugs, or
participants prior other mind-altering
to sexual activity. In substances), being
addition, asleep, as well as not
communicatory being of mental
cues should be capacity to consent
expressed both which includes
before and during impairment by mental
sexual activity as a illness and not being
continual process of appropriate age to
of agreement to consent.
convey consent.
A mental willingness and desire to engage in a particular activity are
necessary components of consent. It is important to remember that both
willingness and desire are embedded in cultural stereotypes that dictate
normative scripts within sexual encounters.

Worthen, Meredith G. F. 2016. “Figure 12.5: Four Necessary Components of Consent.” P. 340 Sexual Deviance and Society: A
Sociological Examination. London: Routledge.