Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > ‘Oh you’re a guy, how could you be raped by a w...

Electronic data

  • Towards a case for recognising forced to penetrate cases as rape

    Rights statement: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-law-in-context/article/oh-youre-a-guy-how-could-you-be-raped-by-a-woman-that-makes-no-sense-towards-a-case-for-legally-recognising-and-labelling-forcedtopenetrate-cases-as-rape/8166CABA33BBE64EBBAD384E1FE13551 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, International Journal of Law in Context, 14 (1), pp 110-131 2018, © 2017 Cambridge University Press.

    Accepted author manuscript, 511 KB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

‘Oh you’re a guy, how could you be raped by a woman, that makes no sense’: towards a case for legally recognising and labelling ‘forced to penetrate’ cases as rape

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/03/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>International Journal of Law in Context
Issue number1
Volume14
Number of pages22
Pages (from-to)110-131
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date18/05/17
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

The existing legal definition of rape in England and Wales is gendered, only recognising men as offenders. The law also only recognises as victims of rape those who are penetrated by a penis, either vaginally, anally or orally. This therefore excludes the female perpetrator–male victim paradigm, and more specifically those cases where male victims are ‘forced to penetrate’ female perpetrators. This paper argues that consideration needs to be given to legally recognising and thus labelling forced-to-penetrate cases as rape. Applying a methodology that draws upon the lived experiences of male victims, it is argued that there are significant similarities between compelled-penetration cases and those cases legally recognised as rape, not only because they both involve non-consensual penile penetration, but because there are clear similarities in the aggressive strategies used by perpetrators and the subsequent harms experienced by victims.

Bibliographic note

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-law-in-context/article/oh-youre-a-guy-how-could-you-be-raped-by-a-woman-that-makes-no-sense-towards-a-case-for-legally-recognising-and-labelling-forcedtopenetrate-cases-as-rape/8166CABA33BBE64EBBAD384E1FE13551 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, International Journal of Law in Context, 14 (1), pp 110-131 2018, © 2017 Cambridge University Press.