In this day and age, it’s pretty sad that the concept of consent is still difficult to grasp for some people.
Although it shouldn't need to be, it often seems that the most effective way of explaining consent is through analogy.
According to Rape Crisis, roughly 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year - that’s roughly 11 rapes (of adults alone) every hour.
To clear up any confusion that may still arise, Twitter user Nafisa Ahmed, 22, took it upon herself to explain consent by using the analogy of stealing money from a purse.
She wrote: “I don’t get how rape is so hard to understand for some men. But, if you put it like this, they get it.”
She then shared a series of tweets:
If you ask me for $5, and I'm too drunk to say yes or no, it's not okay to then go take $5 out of my purse... Just because I didn't say no. — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
If you ask me for $5, and I'm too drunk to say yes or no, it's not okay to then go take $5 out of my purse... Just because I didn't say no.
If you put a gun to my head to get me to give you $5, you still stole $5. Even if I physically handed you $5. — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
If you put a gun to my head to get me to give you $5, you still stole $5. Even if I physically handed you $5.
If I let YOU borrow $5, that doesn't give the right for your FRIEND to take $5 out of my purse. "But you gave him some, why can't I?" — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
If I let YOU borrow $5, that doesn't give the right for your FRIEND to take $5 out of my purse. "But you gave him some, why can't I?"
If you steal $5 and I can't prove it in court, that does NOT mean you didn't steal $5. — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
If you steal $5 and I can't prove it in court, that does NOT mean you didn't steal $5.
Just because I gave you $5 in the past, doesn't mean I have to give you $5 in the future. — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
Just because I gave you $5 in the past, doesn't mean I have to give you $5 in the future.
If you can understand alllllll of that, how do you not understand the concept of rape? — nafisa ahmed (@thatxxv) August 16, 2016
If you can understand alllllll of that, how do you not understand the concept of rape?
Ahmed’s tweets were in response to rape allegations surrounding film director Nate Parker.
Parker was accused of rape when he was still a student but was acquitted in 2001. It emerged this week that a woman who has accused him of rape had taken her own life.
Thousands of people have responded to Ahmed, praising her for her powerful words.