New App Allows People to Record Each Other Consenting to Sex

July 20, 2015

A new “yes to sex” app has been created to supplement all the current dating apps out there.

Former Wall Street banker turned philosophy professor Michael Lissick has created an app called WeConsent that allows users to film people giving consent to sex in order to protect users from assault claims.

The mobile app uses Apple’s iPhone video camera to record a 20-second video of individuals agreeing to sex. Upon accessing the app, a female voice with a British accent asks the partners to state their names and whether they agree to sex. At the end of the video, the voice declares: “Consent confirmed. Have fun.” The app, which is available for 3.20 pounds ($3.50), stores the consenting videos in a cloud server.

Lissick, who is 57, explained that the videos are used for investigative purposes:

“The videos are twice encrypted and can only be accessed by law enforcement, by a written judge’s order or as part of an ongoing sexual investigation by a college.”

The WeConsent app is being introduced during a time when sexual consent and rape are a widely discussed issue among American colleges and universities. Noah Convincer, a student at the University of Massachusetts and a WeConsent app user, said,

“It’s a great idea. I don’t feel embarrassed asking a girl to consent to sex on video. It protects both of us and it is a mature and responsible thing to do. I use apps for everything else, so why not this?”

Sally Bratton, a board member of the Health Services Association for Californian Community Colleges, said:

“These contracts are a very good idea. They take away any doubt or misunderstanding, which is one of the leading causes of accusations of sexual assault. When you have apps like Tinder making sex purely recreational, why not have an app or contract to protect yourself.”

Meanwhile, critics are condemning consensual sex contract apps as evil and dangerous. Jasmin Enriquez, a victim of date rape at Pennsylvania State University, argued:

“They are nothing more than stunts and money-generating schemes which detract from the real issue which is education. We need to educate students of both sexes. Informed consent is an ongoing, shifting process which cannot be encapsulated in a contract. A contract fails to safeguard a woman who might change her mind after signing it.”

Susuana Amoah, the women’s officer at the UK’s National Union of Students, elaborated on the potential dangers of such an app:

“The idea that consent could be given through an app is a really dangerous notion– this type of technology isn’t the answer to developing better sexual consent behaviour. We shouldn’t be encouraging students to equate consent with “there’s an app for that”– we should be encouraging them to engage in on-going discussions about consent and boundaries.”

The app’s creator has also launched the alternative What About No app, which costs $3.99 pounds ($4.30). The app has users greeted by a stern voice that says: “What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?” Similarly, a video of the person being told “no” is recorded and stored in a server.

Source: Daily Mail

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