ABSTRACT

In the judicial context, the law of rape is plied chiefly around two central concepts: force and non-consent. These concepts are analogues to male and female sexuality and lie at the heart of what may be described as the dichotomy of rape law. When force is part of the legislative definition of rape, non-consent seems to be used in case law as an instrument to decide whether force may be proven. On the contrary, when the legislative definition contains non-consent, force is generally looked at in order to prove non-consent.