I can only bully or beat up your character if you agree to it.

From my Francophone European perspective, we do not really have these rules/culture. PvP interaction happen all the time, it can go from "strong argument in a tavern" to assassination and by taking part to the game it's expected that you'll consent to it. The more important your character is the more likely it'll happen. If you play an adventurer, who stays away from crime/politics/and talk with priests only when needing healing, you won't really be a target, if you play a political advisor who is also part of a heretic religious movement, expect some trouble for it. If you play an important noble especially in a controversial faction, assume that someone would assassinate you if they have an opportunity.

The main "in-game" safety is that being seen doing in game immoral thing will cause a reaction. So you should either be discrete (The master assassin wearing crimson-clothe and passing for an excentric merchant so nobody knows what they do at night) or make sure to have enough allies to go in visible PvP behaviour. Playing the douchebag clan usually means that before the end-of the game you have a huge military alliance against you, betrayal or black magic can finish in torture and death if you get caught. It's fun way to die, but you'll loose these character sooner than you'll think.

Then I see many game using various OOC safety mechanics, inspired from nordic larp. but we're more about "doing a workshop about insulting each-others" before starting the game, and adding some keyword to require more/less intensity in scene. Than about requiring explicit consent for PVP actions.