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Well, there's the new legal definition of rape, according to justice.gov, which reads... The new definition of rape is: “The penetration, no matter how slight,

by yebyen 13y ago

Well, there's the new legal definition of rape, according to justice.gov, which reads... The new definition of rape is: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” [1] The headline said sexual assault, not rape, so presumably they are aware of this definition and chose not to invoke it. But this definition precludes the possibility of men being raped by women who force themselves onto the men. [1]: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-ag-018.html http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-ag-018.html

msandford 13y ago
> But this definition precludes the possibility of men being raped by women who force themselves onto the men. I'm not so sure about that. It says "penetration...without the consent of the victim" and it doesn't specify that the victim must be penetrated. It defines the act that must happen, and it specifies that it must happen without the consent of the victim. But it doesn't specify if the victim is penetrating or being penetrated. It does take a careful reading to parse correctly though, so your point largely stands.
- makomk 13y ago
  As written it reads as though the victim is the one being penetrated, but doesn't explicitly state it. I've always figured that whoever wrote it simply didn't realise that the victim might be the one doing the penetrating and so didn't even think about whether that should be included or excluded in the definition.
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
In addition, the UK definition of rape specifically and unequivocally refers to male-on-female rape: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/1 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/1
- matthewmacleod 13y ago
  No, it doesn't — this legislation was specifically designed to include male-on-male rape: A person (A) commits an offence if he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis There's no clause which limits applicability to females. It's true that there is no offence in the UK of female-on-male rape. That's because the definition of rape in the UK is deliberately quite narrow, and specifically applies only to forcible penetration with a penis. Other sexual assault is defined by e.g. "assault by penetration".
jack-r-abbit 13y ago
The fact that it took 85 years to make that update to the definition speaks volumes about how much thought, as a people, we've given to male victims. Kind of disgusting really.

by yebyen 13y ago

msandford 13y ago

> But this definition precludes the possibility of men being raped by women who force themselves onto the men. I'm not so sure about that. It says "penetration...without the consent of the victim" and it doesn't specify that the victim must be penetrated. It defines the act that must happen, and it specifies that it must happen without the consent of the victim. But it doesn't specify if the victim is penetrating or being penetrated. It does take a careful reading to parse correctly though, so your point largely stands.

makomk 13y ago
As written it reads as though the victim is the one being penetrated, but doesn't explicitly state it. I've always figured that whoever wrote it simply didn't realise that the victim might be the one doing the penetrating and so didn't even think about whether that should be included or excluded in the definition.

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

In addition, the UK definition of rape specifically and unequivocally refers to male-on-female rape: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/1 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/1

matthewmacleod 13y ago
No, it doesn't — this legislation was specifically designed to include male-on-male rape: A person (A) commits an offence if he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis There's no clause which limits applicability to females. It's true that there is no offence in the UK of female-on-male rape. That's because the definition of rape in the UK is deliberately quite narrow, and specifically applies only to forcible penetration with a penis. Other sexual assault is defined by e.g. "assault by penetration".

jack-r-abbit 13y ago

The fact that it took 85 years to make that update to the definition speaks volumes about how much thought, as a people, we've given to male victims. Kind of disgusting really.