Consent to one activity isn’t consent for all activities that might happen in a sexual encounter. Nor is it automatic consent for future encounters, with that same partner or with others. Consent needs to be ongoing throughout a sexual encounter. Consent can withdrawn by any partner at any time. Suggesting that a single gesture — the mutual opening of a condom package — sends the damaging message that consent really is a one-time event.
Will #metoo cause anyone to admit to inaction, negligence, ignorance, responsibility or fear of being associated to the truth, the raw truth of ‘me too’? Will I be labeled as something because I wrote ‘me too’? I am human. That’s all. Don’t label me as something because of ‘me too’. It is the last thing on Earth I want to define me.
It is my hope that in the days ahead, we are able to reiterate the importance of focusing on the evidence that clearly shows that when women have access to good health care, so do their families; in this way, they are the key to improving the health status of entire communities.
