Press

Interfusion Festival, Meso Creso, and Mischief DC have debuted consent policies and codes.

The way children react to boundaries has always been fascinating.  Boundaries provide them the freedom to express themselves within specified guard rails as opposed to prohibitions, which can be much more restrictive and therefore incentivize children to break the rules altogether. Living within boundaries feels akin to agreeing to paint within the lines while living with prohibitions feels akin to having your paint and brush taken away. The former leaves room for discretion and creativity whereas the latter shuts down this space completely. This dichotomy can be applied to the New York City dance club scene since the repeal of the New York Cabaret Law in 2017.

Hunting for answers to one of life’s great questions, the lesbian writer Rita Mae Brown pasted on a mustache in 1975 and walked into a bathhouse for gay men. “The adventure attracted me, but besides that I’ve been raised with the constantly repeated notion that women’s sexuality and men’s sexuality are absolutely different,” she wrote in her essay “Queen for a Day: A Stranger in Paradise.” The all-male zone of Manhattan’s The Club would, she hoped, teach her how male and female sexuality diverged.

At the Brooklyn night club House of Yes, dance-floor monitors make sure that revellers don’t get out of hand.

We can’t wait to host Emma Kaywin! Consent Guardian and Trainer at the dopest club in Brooklyn – House of YES! Emma can help show us the way to party safely and con-sensually, learn how to deal rejection on the dance floor and play in a space where EVERYONE IS HAVING FUN! Sounds amazing right?! We are here for it!

To avoid sexual harassment, the House of Yes club in Brooklyn only lets in people who understand the meaning of consent, by talking to them about what’s acceptable or not and explaining their policy.

This conversation before entering the club is described as a “litmus test” by the organisers, who see it as a tool to make everyone feel safe and have the best time at the party.

Affirmative consent is coming into practice in everyday venues such as yoga studios and dance clubs.

A decline in office parties has been blamed on the movement – but educating people about consent and boundaries is empowering for everyone

More clubs are taking inspiration from the LGBTQ and Kink communities for how to run their sex parties.

New York City Council member Rafael Espinal talks about the consent awareness campaign he developed with Bushwick’s House of Yes bar and performance club. Joining him is House of Yes co-founder Anya Sapozhnikova and Jacqui Rabkin, the bar’s marketing director.