I ' m not so much interested in the law as in what is morally right but wouldn ' t laws that criminalize this lack of response prevent a lot of bad from happening ? Affirmative consent laws have the possibility of causing a lot of harm in that they would criminalize a lot of perfectly normal , perfectly consensual sexual activity . I still maintain that the consequences of initiating sexual behavior are on the initiator . That crime is considered different in the case of rape is a blatant display of sexism . It ' s not different , though , because we ' re not talking about conduct that is inherently criminal . This is analogous to something like . your friend has a plate of cookies . You would like a cookie . Going up , taking a cookie secretly , and leaving is stealing and wrong even if your friend was willing to give you a cookie . But if you go up , make sure your friend is watching you , slowly reach down , pick up a cookie , and eat it in full view of your friend , I would have a hard time saying or thinking that you ' re stealing a cookie . Your friend had a lot of time and opportunity to tell you not to take the cookie . Or it ' s like walking into a building that you think is open in full view of a bunch of security guards . It ' s absolutely unreasonable to call that trespassing if it turns out that the building is actually closed and you shouldn ' t be in there , because people who should have forbidden you entrance didn ' t do anything when you walked in .