Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

Rod Kackley writes at PJ Media,

Sex education classes in California’s largest high schools are going to have to include lessons for their students on how to ask for sex after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the legislation into law at the end of September.

Students in high schools that already include health classes as a graduation requirement will be taught the meaning of a new phrase in the pursuit and acceptance of coital pleasure — affirmative consent.

...As usual, the Left Coast is leading the trend for America. California is the first state in the nation to mandate such a high school program. But Michigan may not be far behind.

The Michigan legislation mandates students in high school sex ed classes be taught that “voluntary affirmative consent” must be given by both parties to a sexual encounter and that the affirmative consent can be “revoked at any time.”

Even though the California legislation was passed without a dissenting vote, there are some who don’t like the very concept of “affirmative consent” because it puts the burden of proof on the defendant.

In Tennessee, Judge Carol McCoy overturned a University of Tennessee-Chattanooga decision that found a male student guilty of sexual assault. McCoy argued the school provided no evidence to prove the assault actually occurred.

More importantly to those who find shifting the overarching theme to American justice to one of “guilty until proven innocent” rather than “innocent until proven guilty,” Judge McCoy found UTC “improperly shifted the burden of proof and imposed an untenable standard” upon the defendant’s lawyer to disprove the accusation.

...Michigan lawmakers have a different definition of victory in the quest for affirmative consent. In addition to high school students being taught how to ask for sex, the legislation mandates they be told celibacy is really their best option.

“Educating teens about consent and open communication in regards to physical intimacy in relationships does not promote sexual activity,” said Kathy Hagenian, the executive policy director of the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. “In fact, research and experience shows the opposite is true.”

Read more here.