Basic Trope: Situations where it is uncertain consent is given, or where consent is given on shaky grounds.
- Straight:
- Alice and Bob meet In Da Club, and after he buys her a few drinks, Alice agrees to go home with Bob. Alice is too drunk to think coherently, but she has sex with Bob anyway. The next morning, Alice doesn't remember anything.
- 16-year-old Alice agrees to sleep with her 24-year-old "boyfriend" Bob, even though she is underage. But technically, she is at the age of consent.
- Bob is the casting director for Primetime Soap, and Alice is auditioning for the lead female role. Bob is taken with Alice and tells her she must sleep with him if she wants the part. Alice really wants this role, so she agrees to have sex with Bob, even though she normally wouldn't look at him twice.
- Bob holds some kind of power over Alice (he is her boss, or some other powerful authority figure, or he just has something she really wants or even needs). While he strictly speaking never directly threatens to exorcise said power over her (i.e. firing her, sanctioning her in some way, or withholding that thing she wants/needs) when he makes a sexual pass at her, he clearly hints, mostly or even entirely through subtext, that he might not be as favourably inclined towards her any more if she rejects him.
- Exaggerated:
- "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization.
- Due to the many secrets most of the cast hold, it's clear that many of them would not have given consent to their partner if they knew the truth.
- Rape of any kind.
- Downplayed:
- Alice and Bob are in some kind of Unequal Pairing, though it's obvious that they actually do care for one another.
- It's not clear at what point of the relationship Alice attempted to back out and Bob demanded her to continue.
- Justifiednote :
- Alcohol and other drugs (including Love Potions) impair judgment and inhibitions. Alice might normally have said no to Bob's advances, but she was too impaired to really think straight.
- Alice wants something from Bob, or wants to please him so he'll stay with her or be with her.
- Alice is underage; she really lacks the emotional maturity and rational thinking ability for something as serious as sex.
- Alice didn't vocalize her discomfort with Bob until the intercourse is finished. He is immediately horrified and apologizes profusely, and tries to make it up to her.
- Alice thinks she's with Bob, but she is actually with Charles who disguised himself as Bob in order to have sex with Alice.
- Alice is mentally disabled or ill; she lacks the necessary awareness to give (or not give) consent.
- Rape by Proxy
- Alice is 15 and Bob is 18, but they live in a place with Romeo and Juliet Laws in place.
- Alice is 18 and Bob is 37. It is technically consensual but also questionable.
- Inverted: In a region with Orange And Blue Morality, Alice and Bob must exactly state "I would like to have sex with you" for it to be considered consent.
- Subverted: Alice agrees to have sex with Bob, and everything seems ok.
- Double Subverted:
- But then for some reason Alice wants to stop, but Bob doesn't.
- It turns out Alice just wanted Bob to like her, or worries that Bob will cheat or leave if she doesn't "put out," and is just going along to get along.
- Parodied: Bob thinks he got a drunken Alice to questionably consent, but he was pretty drunk too. When he wakes up in the morning, "Alice" turns out to be a store mannequin.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob have clearly consensual sex.
- It's clear-cut rape, and portrayed as such.
- Enforced: Rule of Drama
- Lampshaded: "Drunk yes isn't the same as sober yes."
- Invoked:
- Bob buys Alice a few cocktails at the bar, and flirts suggestively with her.
- Although Alice is getting uncomfortable, Bob honestly believes he can't just stop in the middle.
- Exploited: Alice purposely makes the situation fuzzy to frame Bob.
- Defied:
- Bob can see that Alice is quite drunk, and just gives her his number to use later when she's sober.
- The Jailbait Wait.
- Bob stops when he sees that Alice is uncomfortable.
- Bob talks casually to Alice, hoping that the age question would be answered there, or outright asks how old she is.
- Discussed: "Yes, but she didn't say no."
- Conversed: "Are you sure they were able to consent?"
It's not like this link back to Questionable Consent can tell you it wants to be clicked, you know...
