The Law – Rape and Sexual Offences
Rape is when a male penetrates someone’s mouth, vagina or anus with his penis without their consent. It can only be committed by males as it involves a penis but both males and females can be the victims.
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Consent means agreeing to a sexual activity. This agreement must be from your own free will and not just allowing someone to do something because you are scared of what they might do if you say ‘no’.
No. The other person has to reasonably believe that you are consenting. So if you are asleep for example, or very drunk, the person can’t say that you were consenting. Many rape victims actually freeze rather than fight and scream when being raped or assaulted which is contrary to popular myth. It is up to you whether you consent every time. No one can assume that you will consent just because you are married, in a relationship or have had sex before.
There is a difference between a child agreeing to do something sexual and this being considered to be lawful consent to it. The general age at which children can give lawful consent is set at 16 in the UK. Under this age any sexual activity is an offence even if both people involved wanted to do it.
If a child is under 13 then the law considers that they are not capable of giving informed agreement (consent) to what happens, and therefore any penetration of the mouth, vagina or anus of a person under that age is automatically classed as rape.
It is also an offence for a person in a position of trust (e.g. a teacher) over a young person between 16 and 18 to have sex with them whether or not they agreed to it.
The Sexual Offences Act covers a range of offences, such as:
- Rape
- Assault by penetration. This involves the penetration of the vagina or anus by something other than a penis (for example a finger or sex toy) and can be committed by males and females and the victim can be either gender.
- Sexual assault. Any touching which is also indecent, for example, fondling someone’s breasts or genital area.
- Sexual exploitation of children. This can include making or allowing children to watch sexual acts or pornography or encouraging children to engage in sexual acts with adults or other children.
- Possession of or making indecent images of children.
If the offender was also a UK national and the victim is under 18 then the fact that an offence took place outside of the UK would not prevent the commencement of legal proceedings in the UK against the offender under Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
