When I lived in Seattle in the 1990s, my partner was a student at the Antioch University campus there. The Sexual Offense Prevention Policy (SOPP) at Antioch College stood on its wobbly new legs. The SOPP manifested on the adult campus in Seattle (redolent with west coast, touchy-feely hugging culture) thusly: Please ask before hugging someone. To wit:
“Do you want a hug?”
(If no, no means no hug! Simple. An exercise in thoughtful boundaries.)
Fast forward to now, #metoo, and how we might build a culture of consent…The Antioch SOPP is back in the news. I think it’s great that collectively, we’ve finally caught up to Antioch, and consent is no longer simply fodder for sketch comedy.
Slowly, through creaks and bumps, we humans can make progress, right?
Rebecca Kuder 