Quick note on that Carter Reynolds video: 'I'm really uncomfortable' is not consent

Reynolds is of age, but the Irish Independent reports that Lindemann is only 17—reason enough to ignore the video completely.

But there is at least one important lesson that can be gleaned from the clip, and that lesson boils down to the concept of consent. What it looks like, and what it doesn’t.

Consent is an agreement all people involved in a sexual act make to have sex, hook up, kiss—whatever. Consent can be verbal, or it can be based on physical cues; the point is that consent is about communication and respecting the signals your partner is (or partners are) sending you.

Here are some ways to know that your partner is giving you their consent:
• They say, “yes.”
• They say, “I would like to do the sex.”
• They leave a burning paper bag on your front step. After stamping out the flames, you realize that there is a flame-retardant strip of metal buried underneath the smoldering ashes that reads: “I consent.”

Here are some ways to know that your partner is not giving you their consent:
• They say, “no.”
• They say, “This makes me so uncomfortable.”
• They say, “I’m really uncomfortable.”
• They say, “I don’t think I can.”
• They pull away from you.
• They excuse themselves to use the restroom and re-emerge five minutes later looking like:

For more information about consent and how to know if your partner has (or partners have) given it to you, one of many online resources you might want to check out is RAINN’s “What Consent Looks Like” guide.

Bad at filling out bios seeks same.