ABSTRACT
Issues surrounding consent are both crucial to sexual ethics, and also complex. Some philosophers and writers think we have misunderstood its proper role, and they argue that it must be seen as a necessary, but far from a sufficient, condition for ethical sex. I begin by surveying their arguments. I then discuss different definitions of consent, and the nature of the harms that result from non-consensual sex. I survey debates about when, under certain kinds of circumstances, someone has the capacity to consent. I consider how issues of coercion, age, intellectual disability, intoxication, and deception affect someone's ability to consent to sex in a way we would recognize as valid. I consider whether we need to redefine our standard of consent: whether we should adopt a different model for what constitutes consent, such as an affirmative consent model, or an enthusiastic consent model. Finally, I look at alternative models of sexual communication.
