Last week California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new bill into law that effectively defines consensual sex on college campuses as rape. Any female who claims rape must be believed, and any accused male is no longer presumed innocent until proven guilty. He just is guilty because his accuser says so.

California Watchdog Wire’s Katy Grimes explains that under the new law, colleges and universities must abandon the “ no means no” standard in favor of a “yes means yes” standard:

Signed into law by Gov. Brown last weekend, Senate Bill 967, by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, reclassifies consensual sex on college campuses as “rape.” The bill will allow California colleges and universities to bypass proper police procedures and deal internally with campus sexual violence. California is the first state in the U.S. to require public colleges and universities to adopt a “yes means yes” standard of affirmative sexual consent when dealing with sexual assault crimes on campus. …

Gratuitous feminists across the country are celebrating. Finally, sex will be treated as “sexual assault” unless the participants discuss it “out loud” prior to sex, and “demonstrate they obtained verbal ‘affirmative consent’ before engaging in sexual activity.”

The California Legislature has declared sex “a contractual event,” and redefined consensual sexual relations as “rape” if it occurs on a college campus. SB 967 says silence and a lack of resistance do not signify consent, and drugs or alcohol do not excuse unwanted sexual activity.

When basic individual civil rights are cast aside, no one is safe or secure. And, as Grimes rightly wonders:

It is still unclear how classifying most consensual sex as rape, will do anything to help real rape victims.

Sadly, they are not the intended beneficiaries:

This virtual wave of campus rape in fact, does not exist. What spurred this bill was a program by the White House, which declared sex crimes to be “epidemic” on U.S. college campuses. The White House claims one in five students is a victim of sexual assault while in college.

This dubious figure has become an article of faith and rallying cry among radical feminists pushing government intervention into colleges’ handling of sexual assault claims. …

Violent crime, including sexual assault, has been declining for more than 20 years, while at the same time, universities across the U.S. have redefined the meaning of “sexual violence” to include anything that makes a woman feel badly, including regret.

Whether intentional or not, these legislators and thoughtless feminists have provided everyone a bill of goods. They’ve trivialized rape and sexual assault, while disparaging all young men.

Instead of addressing the degrading hook-up culture young women have come to accept, they’ve turned their sites on men, again. And instead of counseling female students not to binge drink lest they find themselves in regrettable situations, California legislators, and the governor have reclassified consensual sex, as “rape.”