Sober Orgies Only!

The new sexual-offense policy at Antioch College in Ohio, a policy that requires students to ask for express verbal consent before they kiss another member of the Antioch community, has received a great deal of attention recently. For all their legalism, however, the rules may not be so draconian as they seem, for they do explicitly permit sex to take place among several persons at once. The official policy states:

--"For truly consensual sex, you and your partner(s) should be sober to be sexual."

--"If one person wants to initiate moving to a higher level of sexual intimacy . . . that person is responsible for getting verbal consent of the other person(s) involved before moving to that level."

--"If someone has initially consented but then stops consenting during a sexual interaction, she/he should communicate withdrawal verbally and/or through physical resistance. The other individual(s) must stop immediately."

--"If sexual contact and/or conduct is not mutually and simultaneously initiated, then the person who initiates sexual contact/conduct is responsible for getting verbal consent of the other individual(s) involved."

--"((Consent is not meaningful if)) the person . . . has forced, threatened, coerced, or intimidated the other individual(s) into engaging in sexual contact and/or sexual conduct."