It strikes me that as the rape conversation progresses at some point we will adopt a social custom where written, public, legal consent is secure prior to sexual intimacy. Because paperwork is so unromantic other symbols such a jewels and rings will be used as tokens and people will host celebrative ceremonies to mark the occasion. Once finally legal sanction and protection is secured intimacy can safely be commenced. Of course, many will not be able to or want to achieve such a standard but the norm will be set as the best or safest way to proceed. We’ll look around for a word to describe this new state of affairs. Someone will look in a dictionary to find an old word and suddenly “marriage” will be “the new thing”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-stanford-undergraduate-and-the-mentor.html