ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with an outline of the reasons why legal assessments of sexual acts should focus on the notion of consent and why sexual autonomy is the protected right. Existing criminal laws show, however, no uniform picture. Some legal systems do emphasize consent; others still require coercion in addition to lack of consent. I argue that, for legal contexts, consent should be seen as communication rather than a mere mental state, and I analyze the two models under discussion in legal theory and law reforms: an affirmative consent-model (“only yes means yes”) and a veto-model (“no means no”). The following subsection
deals with the challenge of how to formulate offense descriptions in criminal codes or criminal laws. Final sections deal with circumstances that render approval irrelevant and with mens rea requirements in the area of sexual offenses.
