Law and Order and Informed Consent

So I have been watching a lot of law and order SVU lately, and it has really highlighted how our conversation on consent is far from over. I think people are finally understanding basic consent, but there are still aspects of informed consent that I think a lot of people don't even know about. I'm sure there are even people that don't even know what informed consent is. 

Its a concept that i guess is more common in a hospital setting, so understanding a procedure before going under the knife etc, but can and should also be applied in a sexual/romantic context. Basically, you aren't able to make completely autonomous decisions without sufficient information. 

Law and Order is the furthest thing from being PC, having pretty racist, homophobic, transphobic episodes, but there are still some glints of good ideas. In the earlier seasons, a lot of the episodes were about rapists being HIV positive, and not disclosing / spreading HIV on purpose. In some of them, they didn't even know that not disclosing was a problem. Yes, the basics of consent is that all parties are agreeing, but how can we agree to something we are not privy to?

In hookup culture we often give ourselves the excuse that there was never the opportunity to share xyz with our sexual partner; its just casual sex, the whole point is to not be vulnerable or talk about anything deeper about ourselves. But if we have something that could change someone's mind about hooking up with us, we should be taking on the responsibility of being transparent about it. And this isn't just about STIs either, it's about anything. Take the time to think about what you would want to know about someone you are sexually active with, and apply it to yourself.