This story originally appeared on RawStory and is reposted with permission.
Conservative host Rush Limbaugh on Monday suggested that sexual conduct policies stifled romance because sometimes “no means yes if you know how to spot it.”
Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ended its Title IX investigation of Ohio State University when the school agreed to its strengthen sexual assault policies, The Washington Post reported. OSU said it would expand prevention training, and increase awareness of anti-discrimination laws.
For Limbaugh, however, “agreeing” to consent “takes all the romance out of everything,” he said on his Monday show.
“Seduction used to be an art,” he opined. “Now, of course, it’s prudish, and it’s predatory, it’s bad.”
The conservative talker noted that the new OSU rules described consent as “the act of knowingly, actively and voluntarily agreeing explicitly to engage in sexual activity.”
“Consent must be freely given and can be withdrawn at any time. You have to be sober, not coerced,” he continued, reading from the guidelines. “The absence of ‘no’ does not mean ‘yes.’ It must be asked every step of the way. It cannot be implied or assumed even in the context of a relationship.”
“How many of you guys, in your own experience with women, have learned that no means yes if you know how to spot it?” Limbaugh asked his male listeners. “I’m probably — let me tell you something, in this modern [world], that is simply, that’s not tolerated. People aren’t even going to try to understand that one.”
“It used to be a cliché, it used to be part of the advice young boys were given,” he added.
Listen to the audio below from The Rush Limbaugh Program, broadcast Sept. 15, 2014.
David Edwards is a senior editor with RawStory. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidEdwards.
