Ride the Lightning

Sexual Consent App Asks: Are You Good2Go?

October 16, 2014

Not all societal problems can be solved by an app. I realize yesterday's post was also "blue" and I am halfway rueful about that, but both stories appeared in the press last week – and raise interesting questions to discuss around the water cooler – or more helpfully – with your teenagers/young adults.

And I KNOW this app will come up with the family law crowd.

The Good2Go app is a sexual consent app for iPhones and Android phones. People log in with their names and phones numbers and the software keeps a record of that information, which could of course be subpoenaed.

One screen asks "Are we Good2Go?"

You have three possible answers: "No thanks", "Yes but we need to talk" and "I'm Good2Go."

Tawdry indeed, but it gets worse. In another question, users are asked to indicate whether they are "Sober", "Mildly Intoxicated", "Intoxicated but Good2Go" or "Pretty Wasted."

The precise difference between answers 3 and 4 escapes me, but so does the app itself. Does "Intoxicated but Good2Go" mean a drunk woman can give meaningful consent via an app? If someone has laced her drink, she may have no earthly clue how intoxicated she is. And how many people admit they are wasted?

We have a real issue on college campuses – and elsewhere – but this app does not appear to me to be the solution.

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