Question of consent

[boi]

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone is well. I have not posted in a while and I have a question. I apologize in advance for not contributing more to this forum and I feel guilty because I am using this board self-centredly at times but I do know everyone is supportive here and I am going to ask my question anyway

If a child, lets say 12-14 years old, says yes to something but subconsciously unaware of the consequences, and is acting out of automated/learned behaviour and not even aware they have a choice of saying no versus really meaning yes. Is that consent?

Just to push the example further, if a child has learnt to say yes to everything because saying no produces negative consequences, and then says yes to everything automatically without thinking there is choice, is that consent?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Probably not. regardless of age, a person has to know what they are consenting to and have the capacity to appreciate the outcomes of that decision for it to be genuine consent.

It also very much depends on the relationship between the child and the person to whom consent is given. If a child gives "consent" to any person in a position of presumed authority, that is viewed as coercive consent and therefore not valid as consent.

 

[boi]

So basically, "the capacity to appreciate the outcomes of that decision for it to be genuine consent" is the understanding of the consent part.
In this case it was maybe 1 or 2 years in age difference (older) but I believe they were in a position of presumed authority. Popular boys and bullies. It's just not black and white like many articles I've read on the internet. There are so many grey areas of whether consent was given or not and really what consent is? Saying yes doesn't automatically mean you have consented, I mean technically yes but digging deeper sometimes one doesn't feel like they have a choice.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yes, exactly.