ABSTRACT
The law of sexual offences in England and Wales has undergone radical reform in the last fifteen years. After a consultation period culminating in March 2001, in November 2002 the government published a White Paper called Protecting the Public: Strengthening Protection against Sex Offenders and Reforming the Law on Sexual Offences setting out its proposals for reform. But following Assange a man who is sexually healthy and does not wear the condom which he is asked to wear can be charged for the more serious and stigmatic offence of rape. Although the 2003 Act changes the wording of the offence from ‘man’ to ‘person’, it then makes clear that only a man can commit rape because there has to be penetration by a penis. The High Court of Australia held that absence of consent was a defence to rape.
