Voluntary is a poor ethical metric, one that is vastly less useful than consensual
Consent is defined as granting permission. According to Merriam-Webster, consent means:
Speaking specifically to consent as it applies to the law, consent means "compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another; specifically : the voluntary agreement or acquiescence by a person of age or with requisite mental capacity who is not under duress or coercion and usually who has knowledge or understanding." Consent in terms of persons, like in sex, is literally you agreeing not to hold the party you're consenting to liable for trespass.
Voluntary, on the other hand, means acting of your own volition or free will. Again, according to Merriam-Webster voluntary is defined as:
Now there are several variations on the definitions of both words, and no single definition is authoritative. Some definitions of voluntary include consent into their use of free will, where voluntary actions are by definition uncoerced. However, as this is not always the case, this leaves volunatry-ness open to interpretation and debate. The same is not true for consent. The only thing consent requires is approval. Withholding approval is synonymous with withholding consent.
Let's illustrate this with an example. A man rapes a woman at the point of a gun, and she doesn't fight off her attacker because of that threat. Under many definitions of voluntary, this would, of course, be unethical. But there is at least one definition in which neither party acted involuntarily. By contrast, there is no definition of consent in which this exchange was consensual.
In other words, all consensual actions must be voluntary, but not all voluntary actions are consensual.
Why does this matter, you might ask? Everyone knows what voluntary means, and that means done without coercion. Well, you'd think that, but I've literally had conversations that contradict this. Case in point, if one uses voluntary, paying taxes could be argued to be voluntary, as there is no literal force being applied to you that prevents you from not paying. You're free to withhold payment, even thought the consequences could be lethal. On a technical point, this isn't incorrect; since only you have exclusive control over your body, it can be argued that any conscious action you take is, in fact, a voluntary one. As pointed out in my example above, neither party acted involuntarily; they were both in control of their bodies and acted accordingly.
Ethics are moral standards; a set of rules regarding how to determine whether an act or thing is good or bad. Ultimately, ethics are the standards we use to determine whether a violation has occurred and a victim is present. They inform whether or not restitution must be made. As such, it is extremely important to have a solid ethical foundation. Without it, there is too much room for interpretation, leaving victims without recourse and robbing people of justice.
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