Whatever else it has or hasn't inspired, the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case turns out also to have inspired the creation of ConsensualSexForm.com, which its co-creator believes would go far enough in cutting down the number of sexual assault or even rape cases that develop from consensual sexual encounters that do not always go as intended, or might be accompanied by ulterior motives.
And to think the idea began with a half-casual comment while co-creator Colleen Giles and her husband were watching the evening news recently.
"My husband and I were sitting watching the news one night, when the Kobe Bryant case came out," said Colleen Giles, the certified legal assistant and Web designer (her current profession) who developed the form. "I said with all this going on, and the money these people have, you would think that, as they do like a prenup, you would think they would do a consensual sex release form to protect themselves. And my husband said, 'That's an absolutely great idea'."
ConsensualSexForm.com's Website is up and running. The product itself, which includes clauses for anonymity, liability release, and a promise not to sue, costs $499. And Giles said an attorney is giving it a fuller review, though she added his preliminary review concluded the form is extremely workable and likely to pass legal muster in an actual court case.
Giles herself left the legal industry several years ago, buying and subsequently selling a bar business and making her living designing Websites since.
She's aware enough that her idea suggests a number of comic aspects, and admits that it may seem absurd to imagine a couple in the throes of passion interrupted so one partner can reach not for a condom but for a consent form.
"But the fact is that people are having sex, period," Giles said. "And that was our whole point." As also is the point, more significant, that not only are the wealthy or the famous easy enough targets for false or at least dubious sexual assault or rape charges in instances of consensual sex, but such matters probably happen more often than people realize to "the average Joes."
She understands that just having been accused of a sex crime equals the suspect wearing a kind of scarlet letter for the rest of his or her life, even if the suspect is proven innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. But she said the consensual sex form could actually help keep that kind of stigma away, in the case of the proven innocent.
"I think this will prevent (the scarlet letter aspect), in that if they present this form to a prosecutor who comes to them, if they produce this, they're admitting to having sex with the person that's accused them," Giles said. " I don't think this will stop all these cases (of false or dubious sex crime charges from consensual sex), but I think it might stop a large enough percentage."
Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star, was accused earlier this summer of sexual assault involving a 19-year-old Colorado hotel worker. Bryant, who is married, has denied sexual assault but stated publicly that he had consensual sex with the woman.
