What constitutes rape?

sex without consent, or to someone under a legal age, especially under 14 or so.

@jazmina88 What do you define as consent? Do they have to say no? Does it have to be at a certain decibel level? Does the other person have to acknowledge that they heard it? What about no “no”, but no “yes” either?

If they keep going….kick em….yell…get out of there.
It’s easy enough. You dont have to have sex if you dont want to.
You are also in control of the situaion.

I think rape is when someone is forced to do sexual things without their consent. And in Alabama if you have sex with someone who is under the influence of any drug/alcohol (Even with the consent to do so) its considered rape if the person wants to push it that far.

Any kind of sexual contact that is engaged in forcefully or without continuing consent.

Rape is a legal definition, is grave and has a serious punishment attached to it. As such it has to be dependent upon the laws of the state since there is a fair degree of gray area when it comes to consent and or lack of consent.

@SeventhSense So then you can’t be raped if the law says you weren’t raped? If you are on an island with no laws, just you and a few other shipwrecked people, you can’t be raped?

@Minute_And_A_Huff regarding consent: “In any allegation of rape, the absence of consent to sexual intercourse on the part of the victim is critical. Consent need not be expressed, and may be implied from the context and from the relationship of the parties, but the absence of objection does not of itself constitute consent.”

Just because an audible “no” is not heard does not mean rape did not take place.

@papayalily
No of course not. You can be raped or feel violated or whatever.

@muppetish
That’s why it’s so gray. She might not resist, she might not say no and it can still be called rape? Is it any wonder that this is an area that is so often questioned?

@SeventhSense So wait, you can be raped, regardless of legal definitions, but rape is defined by laws? Wait, what?

@papayalily
Being raped and being convicted of rape are two different things yes.

@SeventhSense Indeed. So what constitutes rape?

@SeventhSense I realize the burden of proof will be in the victim’s court. It’s not easy to prove you have been raped if you (for whatever reason) did not vocally say “no” during the act. Even when consent is refused, it’s often difficult to prove.

I don’t know how to write the laws to better protect victims and the falsely accused. I just don’t know. It’s tragic.

@papayalily
If you are asking me personally, I would say that any sex between two or more persons that is without the consent of one of those individuals or where the age or power differential between persons is such that the consent can not be given constitutes rape.

I don’t think there could possibly be a more personal question to ask.

I think if a person comes away from a sexual experience feeling violated, or if the person is unable to understand the consequences of taking part in sexual activity, they have been raped.

I do understand that there needs to be a “legal definition” of rape that a jury may use in trial, but it has to extend beyond an audible “No, I’d rather you not do that to me at this time”.

I think that rape is a sexual act forced upon a person against their will, is legally underage (which varies from state to state), or not mentally competent enough to give consent. Since consent is the sticky part, I think situations where the victim never said yes or no should be called assault and not rape. To me rape is specifically when a person is being forced against their will. I believe a person can be violated to an extent that they feel raped (such as they didn’t want it, but instead of saying no, they went along with it without objecting). Those are the cases that I think should be an assault charge of some kind but not actually rape (since they never said no or did anything to imply no (such as fighting back or trying to get away)).

Honestly, these situations are why we have rape charges and sexual assault charges.

If someone says no, or does not have the capacity to say yes and someone has sexual relations with that person, then that person has been raped.

I’ve mentioned this in another thread. In NY Section 130.25 defines Rape 3rd as sex between two people if one is under the age of 17 and the other is 21 or over. Even touching genitals. Even consensual sex between long time boyfriend and girlfriend. It is still rape and the older person can be sent to prison of the DA decides to prosecute so they can build up their conviction numbers. It is an extremely easy case to prosecute – just show both birth certificates. The “victim” has no say in the matter. None! Since the “victim” is below the age of 17 and is therefore incapable of giving consent.

I know someone who was prosecuted and is now on a sex offender list for life because he had sex with a girl 10 days before her 17th birthday. Dating for 6 months. What a tragic waste…
I used to think a rapist was some bad guy who grabbed women of the streets and forced them to have sex against their will. Now I know there are others mixed into this group that really should not be there.
But that is the law.

To me, rape is sexual acts forced upon an unwilling person. In the simplest terms, notwithstanding the legal definition of rape. In other words, if a person says “no”, it’s rape. It doesn’t matter if you’re drunk, it doesn’t matter if she originally said “yes”, if a person says “no” and you don’t stop, it’s rape.

But the problems I have are things like labeling an 18-year-old who has consensual sex with a 16-year-old as a “rapist”. That gets to the point of ridiculous…

@jazmina88 So you can’t be raped if you don’t want to be raped? Which means no one is really raped?

My opinion is when a person is forced to have sex. Even a married woman can be raped by her husband. “NO” means exactly that. Not trying to start an argument with jazmina88; but all I can say is at the age of 10 kicking and screaming didn’t help. And I can’t see how the h*ll I could have been in control!

@papayalily
So I finally answer your question and you don’t even acknowledge? Nice. I now know why your class was oppositional.

Well if a naked man chases a woman down an alley at night. Carrying a knife & wearing a hard on. I’m going to say he’s unlikely to be collecting for charity.

@SeventhSense I didn’t know that it needed a response. You stated your opinion – what should I have responded to?

Also, I did have other things to do, like cleaning up a broken lamp and getting food and starting a paper. Sometimes I don’t respond because I exist outside of Fluther. Shocker.

@jazmina88: “It’s easy enough. You dont have to have sex if you dont want to.
You are also in control of the situaion.”

That is complete BS. Do your homework before spouting off misinformation.

Rape is non-consensual sex. Here is a great comic illustration that answers your question: Sex Talk

I would define rape as the physical exertion of will over another to sexual ends when the subject harbors a desire to not engage in the sexual activity, or when the subject is incapable of consenting due to lack of comprehension or physical/mental impairment.
The lack of comprehension covers children, but also allows for comprehension to be acquired at different ages as. In the legislation of law, I would still provide a minimum age.

Proving rape, or proving anything, to another person, is totally different than establishing a law. I agree that every person that has ever been raped did not consent (as in the mental decision to comply based on aligned personal desires). But if they actively participate in the event and offer no signs of said lack of consent (talking about adults at this point), then they would be hard pressed to prove to me they did not consent.

I think a key element of the event is, did the supposed victim communicate at any time, by any means, that they in truth desired to not engage in the act?
If two people slip into the back room at a party, get undressed, and begin having sex, you can’t expect one of them to recognize the other has developed a desire to cease the engagement without some form of communication, and interpretation of “lack of interest” I would not consider sufficient, since some people act in similar fashion during sexual encounters while consenting. That’s why the question always arises, did (s)he say no? Kick, Scream? Scratch? Oh, wait, a lot of people do those things when having sex too, enter the argument, “What? She was doing everything my girlfriend does in bed.” Not to say I consider that anywhere near valid. Clearly one can discern the difference between a person fighting for their freedom and one enjoying the engagement. I do agree with expecting people to err on the side of violation, as in, to assume the person is desiring to stop. It only takes a moment to pause and get affirmation that your partner is still consenting.

Hope that’s worth something :)

I’m glad this came up. It give me a chance to offer an update on our friend above who had sex with his girlfriend 10 days before her 17th birthday.

He served a short time and is on parole. He is on the sex offender list but is considered the lowest level (least likely to reoffend). He found it impossible to get a job with his record even though NY state prohibits discrimination in most cases. He finally got a job dispatching trucks for a large farm for a little above minimum wage and about a year ago started his own business that is growing quickly. He recently had to hire 2 employees to keep up with the demand. He will likely earn well over $100k this year.
But he is still a sex offender for life.