Mike Domitrz defines consent as the right to choose what happens to your own body, not just in sexual situations but in everyday moments like hugs. Teaching kids early to assert their bodily choices builds the foundation for setting boundaries in dating and relationships later.
Should somebody always have a choice before somebody does something, anything with their body? Yes or no? Yes. Yes, that's called consent. Consent's not just sexual. How many times in life do adults sometimes say things like, give me a hug, and you don't wanna give 'em a hug, and they pressure you to give you a hug? Can that stuff happen? Yes or no? It's not sexual, but it's intimate. The earlier I learn to have a choice about what somebody does, give me a hug, whatever with my body, the earlier I learn how to do that, the more empowered I'll be when I start to date and get older to express my boundaries with my partners.
