Hell yes? Enthusiastic consent as a legal standard for sexual consent

Abstract

Australian laws around sexual consent have recently begun to shift towards ‘yes mean yes’ standards of affirmative consent. This article examines whether Australian laws should go further and adopt ‘enthusiastic yes’ standards of enthusiastic consent. This article begins by explaining enthusiastic consent and highlighting its strengths as a model of consent, before outlining both the practical and conceptual objections to its use within law. Ultimately, this article finds that whilst enthusiastic consent should not be used as a legal standard for sexual consent in Australia, it nonetheless remains a valuable tool for thinking about sexual consent in non-legal areas such as ethics and education.