Emily Atack is calling for change to sex consent laws – what would this mean?-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

Emily Atack is calling for consent laws to be changed in the UK (Picture: Rex/Instagram/Emily Atack)

Emily Atack is campaigning for affirmative consent to be introduced to UK law – but what is it, and what will happen if she succeeds?

The Inbetweeners star, 34, is backing a campaign by Right To Equality, which aims to follow countries like Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Spain, Denmark, and Canada, in tightening the laws around sexual consent.

Currently, UK law considers rape to be penetration without consent, which is progressive when compared to Italy and France, whose laws say rape requires force, coercion or threat.

However, the affirmative consent model goes a step further. It means ‘anything less than a clear, uncoerced, and informed confirmation of consent like “yes” cannot qualify as consent in the eyes of the law.’

In other words, consent in the law would mean a clear enthusiastic communication of willingness to have sex, rather than the absence of a ‘no’. This could come in the form of clear words or actions which confirm consent.

Affirmative consent can be withdrawn at any time and can’t be gained by threats, force, or coercion.

The star shared a social media post explaining the campaign (Picture: Tristan Fewings/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)

What has Emily Atack said about consent laws?

Emily took to social media with her I’m Asking For It campaign image, and said: ‘Ahead of International Women’s Day this week I’m pleased to be announcing my latest campaign, working with Right To Equality to push for affirmative consent to be in the law.

‘The current approach to consent in the UK perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes and places a disproportionate burden on women to communicate their lack of consent.

‘One in five think No can mean Yes when it comes to sex… this absolutely floored me.

‘We need to start asking for consent, and asking for it now. No more “implied consent” – only a Yes should mean Yes. That’s the Affirmative Consent standard and I’m asking for it.

The star is hoping 100,000 people will sign the petition so it will be debated in Parliament (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

‘Pleased to be working with @Right2Equality and @cpb_ldn on this very important cause, you can sign the petition at: affirmativeconsent.uk (will put a link on my stories).’

I’m Asking For It is calling on the public to sign its petition so its proposals will end up debated in Parliament – for this to happen it needs 100,000 signatures.

Why is Emily Atack calling for changes to consent laws?

Despite UK law stating both people need to give consent to sex, it’s not always clear what consent means.

This lack of clarity shows up in court, where implied consent – where a defendant can claim they made an assumption based on the alleged victim’s behaviour – is accepted.

Subsequently, much of the onus is put on the victim to prove they did not consent, rather than focusing on the accused and their actions.

This becomes trickier still as freezing is a common response to sexual violence – an action that under the current murky UK law could be argued as implying consent, when in reality it means the opposite.

It’s clear this definition is not working for rape and sexual assault victims in the UK, as from 2021 to 2022 only 2% of alleged rapes led to conviction. There were 70,330 rapes reported to the police in this time.

It is believed that by adopting affirmative consent, it will create a better nationwide understanding and respect of what constitutes consent.

Alarmingly, in the Victim’s Commissioner 2019 to 2020 annual report, Dame Vera Baird reflected on how low rape conviction numbers in the UK effectively mean ‘we are witnessing is the de-criminalisation of rape.’

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