My understanding was that any society has things that are considered consented to by default, and things that need explicit permission. For instance, among the upper class in England in the last century, it was considered improper to start a conversation with someone unless you had been formally introduced. In modern-day America, it’s appropriate to start a conversation with someone you see in public, or tap someone on the shoulder, but not to grope their sexual organs, for instance.
I think this is what EY meant by “boundaries of consent”: for instance, imagine a society where initiating sex was the equivalent of asking the time. You could decline to answer, but it would seem odd.
Even so, there’s a difference between changing the default for consent, and actually allowing non-consensual behavior. For instance, if someone specifically tells me not to tap her shoulder (say she’s an Orthodox Jew) it would then not be acceptable for me to do so, and in fact would legally be assault. But if a young child doesn’t want to leave a toy store, it’s acceptable for his parent to forcibly remove him.
So there’s actually two different ideas: changing the boundaries of what’s acceptable, and changing the rules for when people are allowed to proceed in the face of an explicit “no”.
It’s also possible that people in that society have a fetish about being taken regardless of anything they do to try and stop it… Like maybe it’s one of the only aspects of their lives they don’t have any control over, and they like it that way. Of course, I think your explanation is more likely, but either could work.
My understanding was that any society has things that are considered consented to by default, and things that need explicit permission. For instance, among the upper class in England in the last century, it was considered improper to start a conversation with someone unless you had been formally introduced. In modern-day America, it’s appropriate to start a conversation with someone you see in public, or tap someone on the shoulder, but not to grope their sexual organs, for instance.
I think this is what EY meant by “boundaries of consent”: for instance, imagine a society where initiating sex was the equivalent of asking the time. You could decline to answer, but it would seem odd.
Even so, there’s a difference between changing the default for consent, and actually allowing non-consensual behavior. For instance, if someone specifically tells me not to tap her shoulder (say she’s an Orthodox Jew) it would then not be acceptable for me to do so, and in fact would legally be assault. But if a young child doesn’t want to leave a toy store, it’s acceptable for his parent to forcibly remove him.
So there’s actually two different ideas: changing the boundaries of what’s acceptable, and changing the rules for when people are allowed to proceed in the face of an explicit “no”.
It’s also possible that people in that society have a fetish about being taken regardless of anything they do to try and stop it… Like maybe it’s one of the only aspects of their lives they don’t have any control over, and they like it that way. Of course, I think your explanation is more likely, but either could work.
I’m still working on my explanation, but I’m going to wait and see if this comment does the job before I post it.