Viral Thread Nails Why Removing Condoms Without Consent Is Sexual Assault
This important Twitter thread explains why removing a condom without consent is rape
One Twitter user is breaking down exactly why removing a condom during sex without consent should be considered rape. Her tweets – which has since garnered more than 100,000 likes – explain all of the different ramifications a victim might have to deal with after non-consensual unprotected sex, and eloquently tackled the larger idea of consent overall.
In short, it’s a must-read.
Twitter user @iamsashakae began her thread by explaining that removing a condom without consent immediately changes the context of the sex that the other person had agreed to.
“If you remove the condom without the knowledge AND consent of your partner and you continue to have intercourse you have indeed committed rape,” she wrote. “…They did not consent to raw sex.”
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1034956433765359617
As most everybody knows, there’s an insane amount of serious consequences that come along with sex without a condom. There are sexually transmitted diseases.
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1034958752917716992
Side effects from Plan B. Stress over having to go to the doctor and finding out if you have a sexually transmitted disease.
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1034959070220963840
Pregnancy.
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1034959435297382402
She went on to explain that there was a time when the concept of consent wasn’t really discussed publicly. But now the conversation is fully out there now, especially in light of the #MeToo movement, and people need to educate themselves.
“Things like coercion, deception, fucking a drunk girl because she drunkenly said yes…earlier on you probably didn’t know those things were sexual assault because society did not teach us that,” she wrote. “But NOW there is no excuse for you all. Both genders. The information is there.”
https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1035278096851709954https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/1035278434799431681
Removing a condom without consent is called “stealthing,” and it’s not legally considered rape. In 2017, Democratic Representatives Ro Khanna and Carolyn Maloney sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee asking that the abusive behavior be dealt with on a legislative level.
They argued that stealthing is a “violation of trust and dignity between two sexual partners” and emphasized that “nonconsensual condom removal could, in fact, turn consensual sex into nonconsensual sex.”
“Stealthing is sexual assault,” Maloney said. “We need a hearing so that Congress can hear from the experts about how to best address this issue as we continue to amend our country’s and universities’ responses to sexual assault and rape.”
