Talk:Rape in English law

I have excised the following passages as they are not about the offence under section 1. A statement to the effect of "X cannot be prosecuted as "rape" but must instead be prosecuted as sexual assault/assualt by penetration/or whatever" is appropriate. If you can find a source that criticises or praises this exclusion by the definition, even better. But there should not be a further description of the other offence, which should be discussed in its own article.James500 (talk) 22:53, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

The forcing of a penis into a vagina by a female is criminalised, as it appears to be covered by section 4 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 - causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

Under English law, it is possible for a woman to 'rape' a man, but the woman would be prosecuted for the offence of assault by penetration and not for the offence of rape. Both women and men can be prosecuted for sexual assault under section 3 of the 2003 act if they touch a person of either sex sexually without consent. A person of either sex can also be prosecuted for intentionally causing another to engage in sexual activity without consent under section 4, a crime which carries a maximum life sentence if it involves penetration of the mouth, anus or vagina. Section 2 of the 2003 Act introduces a new sexual offence, "assault by penetration", with the same punishment as rape. It is committed when someone sexually penetrates the anus or vagina with a part of his or her body, or with an object, without that person's consent.^[1]

I have cut the following link because it is not relevant to the law of rape.James500 (talk) 05:50, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

^[2]

I have cut the following passage. (1) Any woman can commit rape as an accomplice. (2) On the face of it, the effect of section 79(3) is that a person born female can commit rape if she has had what is described therein as "gender reassignment surgery". This means that, on the face of it, the offence can be committed by a person who is genetically female. Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, a gender recognition certificate has to be applied for, and the previous law was that a person's gender could not be changed.

Women cannot commit the offence of rape in England and Wales.

(opninion: Although legally this is true, forced sex should be considered rape whether the victim is female or male.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.209.89.15 (talk) 20:04, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

This expression appears in s 16 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828. It is redlinked in the article. The only source that I have found for the meaning of "shall suffer death as a felon" so far is page 41 of The Irish Reports: Containing Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, the Court of Bankruptcy, in Ireland, and the Irish Land Commission 1984: Google Books which says it means "that the offence was continued as a felony". I am not sure, on the strength of that, what death as a felon (or perhaps shall suffer death as a felon) should point at. James500 (talk) 19:18, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

I think that an important point that has been omitted in this section is when the definition of rape was altered to remove the requirement of violence or a threat of violence. Also, if this can be done objectively, why the alteration was made. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.186.7.101 (talk) 22:51, 25 April 2016 (UTC)