On Consent, Reproductive Agency, and Platforms: Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder
There was a recent story about Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed's pregnancy. A story told by the couple, intended to be humorous, about how Somerhalder threw out Reed's birth control pills because he was so eager to start a family started an internet backlash. Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder Reed later clarified with regards to the backlash, calling out writers who claimed her pregnancy was non-consensual. Now, clearly Reed's pregnancy was not non-consensual - her husband throwing away pills in front of her would not preclude her from getting more, for example. There is also a difference in how consent plays out with an established couple - couples that know each other well wouldn't require explicit consent from each other the way strangers or new couples would. But it does raise a few red flags. Nikki Reed stressed on the fact that this was a humorous story about something that had happened between a married couple (the use of the word "mar...