TW: Obviously due to the nature of the blog post I’ll be discussing consent here myself and also vaguely referencing situations where authors fail to portray it properly, since this is the main forum I won’t be going into too much detail but a TW may still be necessary
Consent in general is something which needs to be dealt with better in alot of things but Episode authors are super guilty of not getting consent right. How may times have you read a story where the MC is crying or having a breakdown and the LI decides to passionately kiss her? Like, if someone is in distress we shouldn’t be giving off the message of “oh yeah if someone is panicking then give them a big ol’ kiss on the lips”.
I once read a story where something happened to a character which caused her to panic then the LI came over and hugged her, despite her constantly telling him no and it also describes him hugging tighter but he never gets called out for this, I think she shouts at him once but he continues doing similar things throughout the rest of the story.
I know it may “just be a hug” to some people but consent is consent, if a character says stop then the other character should be shown to stop, or if the character continues it shouldn’t be shown as good or “romantic”.
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How can an invisible concept be sexy? Ah, yes. Oxygen is so hot!
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Something like this happened when I was having a panic attack. I was laying on my friend’s bed, then they got on top of me. I wanted to to something to let them know I didn’t like it, but couldn’t move or speak. I know they’d have immediately gotten off had i shown I was uncomfortable, I just don’t know why they did it in the first place.
@ShanniiWrites, I saw you mentioned people with bad mental health, but what about those who are mentally disabled, such as someone with the mindset of a two year old, but the body of a thirty year old?
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Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about the subject! However, I’d say that in come cases, people with mental disabilities would not be able to consent. It depends on their individual situation, though!
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It depends on the severity. For instance, I have a math disability and I can consent.
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Yeah I have dyspraxia, which makes me neurodivergent. I can absolutely consent! When it comes to certain people, though, there can be some real issues!
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Oohh, Autism too! Low vs high. I know some don’t like that wording, so I apologize to you.
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Yeah a lot of things can impact whether an autistic person can consent or not, such as whether they are verbal or nonverbal and if they’re having quite a bad day when it comes to overstimulation, etc
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It’s about movement, spatial awareness, depth perception, etc. I like to say it’s like dyslexia but for moving 
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Yeah, when I get too freaked out, I’m totally out of it.
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I can’t tell my left from my right or cardinal directions. I suck at depth perception. It took me a long time to learn how to tie my shoes. When I’m hearing more than one sound at once, I can struggle to distinguish between them, which can make me panicky. That’s especially true when lots of people are speaking. I can’t visualise directions, etc
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Like if someone says “turn left. At the big tree, turn right…” etc, my mind completely blanks out. It’s weird because I have a pretty good imagination, but there are some things I just can’t imagine! Like fight scenes in books!
If I’m reading a fight scene, you may see me acting out certain moves a little to get them, haha!
I mean, this is true for neurotypical people, too, right? If someone’s having a panic attack, they can’t consent 
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Did you make a thread on it? I made a dyscalculia thread. Would mean a lot if you’d look at it. My Hydrocephalus thread too.
TW: I’m gonna be talking about lack of consent in these stories, mainly with hugging and that kind of content.
I think that if you’ve known someone for a long time and have a great relationship with them, consent (purely with hugging and that kind of thing) may not be super necessary because you’d know by that point how to read them and understand if they are always open for hugs or something like that. Since you already have that built up relationship, you might know them well enough to read their cues. It’s always nice to ask though if there is ever a sliver of doubt.
I have a problem with people not asking to hug you when you don’t know them. Or just being close to you, touching you etc…
So it really bothered me when I saw this one episode original story where this guy was the MC’s literal BULLY and would get close to her or hug her without her consent and with her looking visibly uncomfortable. Of course she was fine with it because these MC’s are fine with it but you don’t do that. You literally bullied her you don’t get to touch her! And it’s the icing on the cake that his behavior was excused because he always “loved her and didn’t know how to act around her”. They also argue a lot so I could only imagine the relationship turning ab@sive.
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