ABSTRACT
The Principle of Consensuality states that their sexual activity is permissible. As to fraud in the inducement to sexual intercourse the law is inclined not to regard it as constituting an instance of rape and rather to provide for a separate crime, such as procuring by deception. The Principle of Non-consensuality says that this is wrong because one party does not consent, not because one party is treated solely in instrumental terms. But while there may be degrees of voluntariness, there cannot be degrees of consensuality. Clearly one can imagine the harms threatened varying in their seriousness, proximity, and reality, and, in proportion to such variation, our judgement of involuntariness would also vary. Given the complications it may be impossible to specify any clear and agreed criteria whereby the point at which a choice that is less than fully voluntary possesses that degree of involuntariness which invalidates any consent given.
