ASMR Is Normalizing Consent, One Whisper At A Time

By Abby Lee Hood


You’ve determined it’s time for a change — a big one, so you want lavender-colored hair for the upcoming holiday. You hole up in the washroom with your friend and enlist her help, asking her to apply the color and oversee the complete box dye process.


Your friend happens to be one of the greatest you have, and she goes above and in back of, bringing a plastic cape to cover your clothes and brushing your hair gently before beginning to color your hair. She also continuously checks in with you, asking if it’s alright to brush your hair, asking in a concerned tone if you’re comfortable once the cape is on. Your friend explains each step and repeatedly asks, “Is this okay?” As she applies product to your hair, and you’re proud with the end result.


In reality, you don’t have purple hair, nor are you sitting in the washroom floor with your friend. You’re actually watching a video created by Latte ASMR, a YouTuber who creates calming role play videos to help viewers experience the tingly, soothing sensation of autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR for short.


You’ve probably saw a viral ASMR video recently somewhere on social media, where honeycomb-eating and close up videos of someone putting on chapstick get passed around on Instagram aggregator accounts and rack up hundreds of thousands of views. Some ASMRtists — people who help others experience the sensation through video or audio recordings — make a career of the art, some days to the tune of more than one million subscribers on YouTube. ASMR has even infiltrated pop culture, too; Cardi B once did an interview in full-blown whisper.


ASMR videos have grown in popularity since debuting online about a decade ago, and for good reason: The main objective is to help people relax and fall asleep. According to ASMR University, a ASMR informational resource founded by Dr. Craig Richard, professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, ASMR could include a number of calming sensations like calmness, a tingly feeling, or relaxation, due to gentle stimuli like whispering, methodical sounds, and light touches. Tingles are said quite a lot in videos and it’s typical to be able to see titles like “ASMR Triggers for Strongest Tingles!” And while there really is still a lot to learn about the positive ways ASMR affects our brains, devotees believe it cooperates with the them fall asleep, de-stress, or find comfort once things get tough.


there really are as several types of ASMR videos as there really are people creating them, and several artists develop a signature fashion. Some whisper, some only speak softly. Some like fast-tapping or slow-tapping, create characters, or include fairy-tale elements like fairies and witches. No matter who you’re watching, it’s typical to find role play videos in which a creator treats the camera as a person receiving personalized attention. ASMR role play is all about making a calming space to relax in, and the ASMRtists don’t purport to replace any of the services that the original practices provide; creators may mimic real-life appointments and treatments however they don’t replace medical opinions from a doctor. However comparing different styles of role play videos will most likely reveal one small commonality, so quick and gentle it’s easy to miss unless you’re looking for it: questions about consent.


Though consent is routinely defined in a sexual context, and several sexual health and violence prevention organizations teach consent to decrease sexual assault, RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, states that consent is all about communication, a skill ASMR showcases regularly. Consent is a critical segment of conversation in romantic relationships and intimacy between partners, although it should be obtained in everyday, non-romantic situations, also. It ensures mutual agreement, and respect between two people no matter what activity they engaging in. In role play videos, ASMRtists often film situations that might require consent in real life, like a doctor taking your temperature or a hairdresser placing a cape around your shoulders. While ASMR videos are a certain sort of fantasy, asking consent questions is still essential for both creators and viewers and assists the build a safe space to relax.


“Touching someone, even gently, without their consent can trigger their alert state, which is counterproductive to ASMR,” Dr. Richard — who literally wrote the book on inducing the tingly, soothing feeling ASMR lovers crave — told MTV News in an email. “If a ASMR artist asks for consent ... This can relax the viewer even more.”


Dr. Richard writes extensively about consent; in Brain Tingles, he explains that people who practice ASMR must ask for consent at the starting of almost every session without making assumptions, and that consent in a previous session doesn’t guarantee consent in the second. Although ASMR videos are imaginary, Dr. Richard told MTV News that asking for consent in a simulated situation is critical because people will still have real-life reactions. Without consent or building a viewer feel safe, the soothing feelings might not directly be as intense or enjoyable.


Not every person who watches ASMR videos pays attention to consent questions, but several people who responded to a survey by MTV News appreciated the mindful inclusion of such prompts before ASMRtists establish tactile sense. And ASMR might not directly help every person dealing with a mental health offer or trauma; for that, it’s critical to seek help from a licensed professional. At its root, ASMR’s primary aim is a magnificent experience for each viewer, which or might not directly influence how that person feels day to day.


According to Dr. Asia Eaton, feminist social psychologist and Assistant Professor in Psychology at Florida International University, ASMR is a space where consent questions are second nature, because it is a welcoming environment where creators’ main objective is often to create a loving and calming atmosphere.


“[ASMR is] modelling excellent, interpersonal exchanges,” Dr. Eaton told MTV News. “Part of caring communication demands consent. And segment of ASMR is to express respect. Of course, once they’re role playing something like [that], it makes sense to stop and ask your ‘client’.... It’s even more crucial in real life.” She added that ASMR offers the possibility to model consent in both romantic and non-romantic or professional settings.


Some creators might not directly realize they’re actively asking for consent, and the act often doesn’t register for viewers, either. Nevertheless in MTV News’s survey, 70 percent of 124 respondents (all of whom were anonymous unless otherwise noted) mentioned they found once ASMRtists asked for consent before “touching” them. In the survey, 57 percent also mentioned a ASMRtist asking for their consent before “touching” them made them feel comfortable or safe, indicating that viewers may appreciate a video more whenever consent is a piece of their experience.


One respondent told MTV News that ASMR had helped their insomnia, and that consent questions enhanced their relaxation. “I notice every time the artist asks for consent. It makes me feel seen and heard... And permits me to relax,” they mentioned. “It normalizes consent as a sign of respect and I covet this in my day-to-day life.”


Several of these surveyed shared similar experiences, explaining that consent questions made them feel, among other things: safe, connected to the video, enhanced tingles, relaxation, and more. Another respondent mirrored the feelings of safety and comfort and mentioned the thought put into a pre-recorded video to take the viewer’s consent into account is wonderful.


Sharon Dubois, also referred to as ASMR Glow, has 770,000 followers on YouTube and consistently creates role play videos. In an email to MTV News, Dubois mentioned she includes questions about consent almost without thinking and that being a ASMR viewer for a long time has influenced her into making consent almost a second thought. She believes it’s essential in her content and hopes her questions about consent serve as a model for her viewers.


“It gets the viewer involved and shows them they're in good hands... The creator is here to respect them and take care of these in the most respectful manner,” Dubois mentioned. “It tells the viewer they're in a comfortable and safe place.”


As ASMR Glow, Dubois is just one of several creators using consent questions in videos. You might frequently hear, “Do you mind if I touch your face?” Or “Do you mind if I go around you?” throughout videos, and also treatment descriptions: “We’ll check both the health of your eyes, and your vision… [The light] is going to be a little bit bright, although nothing also uncomfortable.”


Dubois takes her platform seriously, and aims to be especially thoughtful of female viewers and why ASMR might have the ability to positively impact their lives outdoor of simply helping them to fall asleep. “Especially being a woman and having such a platform, it's my role to show younger females that their consent comes first and is the most crucial thing in anything happening around them or to them,” she mentioned. “If anything is done without someone's consent, the person should not accept it and it's crucial that each person is aware that and is never ashamed of saying no.”


While ASMR videos clearly intersect with non-romantic, professional, or casual situations in which consent is essential, some respondents in MTV News’s survey described how modelling these questions and taking the viewer into consideration helped them deal with the aftermath of sexual assault and violence, and assisted in their healing process.


“As a rape survivor, it permits me to come to terms with the fact that not each person is ‘out to get me,’” one response read. “I feel more comfortable talking about consent in emotionally heightened contexts… ASMR has given me emotional equipment to take into the real world … and made me more present and in tune with others, thus making me much less vulnerable.”


To those who do take notice, consent questions can heighten their experience and help make them easier to use each day. One survey response went for now as to mention ASMR is cutting edge as soon as it comes to inclusion and consent, and expressed a desire for more people to take those lessons to heart.


“In several ways, I feel like the ASMR community is at the forefront of consent normalization,” they explained. “So several ASMRtists ask before ‘touching,’ use gender-neutral language, and let for the viewer to be gay/straight/bi/trans, etc. Just with their wording. It makes me hope for a global in which we all act this way.”


In a whispery, tingly corner of The world wide web, there lives an art form some rely on day-to-day for relief from a busy world. How organic, then, these videos also distribute what may be the most calming model of consent normalization. With each video, viewers are reminded of their own autonomy — and that only they can pick whether or not they want someone else to touch them.