Mike Domitrz explains why reading body language as consent is dangerous. A touch on the leg at dinner doesn't mean yes. Assumption and arrogance without asking lead to unwanted advances. Get verbal confirmation instead.
It was a Friday night. You were with your partner. They gave you a look. It led to what you wanted. It was awesome. Saturday night, they give you the exact same look. Does it necessarily mean they wanted the exact same thing? Yes or no? No. Same person, same look, not consistent because body language is unreliable. And some of you are going, well, Mike, well, how could it be dangerous? Well, let's imagine we have 2 people on a date. It's going great. Both of them are sitting next to each other and the one is hoping something's going to happen. They look down, they see the other person has placed their hand on their leg. Their ego sees this. says, oh, they're touching me, they want me, I should go for it. So they make a sexual advance the other person did not want. Could this quickly become a disastrous situation? Yes or no? Yes. That's the problem with body language. It relies on assumption and arrogance. Assumption: I know that what you're doing right now tells me exactly what you want. Arrogance: that I have the right to do that to you without confirmation. And I'm assuming nobody in this room wants to treat others based on arrogance or assumption.
