APPROXIMATELY three years after Jamaican policymakers ended a lengthy debate over changing the definition of rape, the United States last Friday upgraded their 80-year definition of the gruesome act to make it more gender-neutral, after much pressure from gender advocates.

Rape in the US was originally defined as "carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will". However, the Justice Department upgraded the definition to mean the "penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim".

The new definition now makes it possible for men and women to be the victims as well as the perpetrators of rape, and is expected to solve inconsistencies in data regarding the number of rape victims in that country.

But while the move is being lauded in that jurisdiction by law enforcement and government officials, some believe that a changing of the definition for rape is not necessary in Jamaica at this time. This is especially so given the fact that persons, whether males or females, can now be charged for the carnal knowledge of another without their consent under the Sexual Offences Act of 2009.

The Act was a spin-off to the Incest Punishment Act and the Offences Against the Person Act, which addressed sex crimes; however, the current Act still recognises rape as a crime that can only be committed by a man against a woman. A man commits this offence when he has sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent, or recklessly not caring whether or not she consents. All other sexual acts carried out against an individual without their consent is considered a grievous sexual assault; therefore an individual, whether male or female, commits this offence when they penetrate the vagina or the anus of a victim with a body part other than the penis or with an object manipulated by the offender.

Head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) superintendent Gladys Brown, believes the Sexual Offences Act is very clear-cut and provides grounds on which a woman can also be charged for sexually assaulting a man without his consent, thereby eliminating concerns that the law is gender-biased. As such, she does not believe Jamaica should be concerned about changing the definition of rape as it now stands.

"If you are a woman and you go home tonight and you and your girlfriend tie up a man and you get a bottle and you insert it into his anus, you are going to go to prison for a good while because you are going to be charged for grievous sexual assault," she said.

"What the law tries to do, is not to minimise or maximise the offence but to separate them and where you could draw the line and make your judgement is when you look at the penalty, because there must be a separation in terms of the degree of the offence," she said.

While not discounting the trauma experienced by a woman who is sexually molested, she pointed out that a woman who has been raped usually has to consider other repercussions such as getting pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease such as HIV/AIDS.

"When a man insert his penis inside of you, a whole range of things can happen to you to include you going crazy, going mad and feeling traumatised for the rest of your life," she said.

Under the Sexual Offences Act of 2009, a person who commits the act of rape is liable on conviction in a Circuit Court to imprisonment for life, or a time determined by the court not being less than 15 years. However, a person who commits the offence of grievous sexual assault is liable upon conviction in a Resident's Magistrates Court to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or upon conviction in a Circuit Court to imprisonment for life, or such other term as the court considers appropriate not being less than 15 years.

Executive Director for the Bureau of Women's Affairs, Faith Webster, believes that while the change in the definition of rape might be necessary for the US at this time, this is not necessarily the case for Jamaica.

"I suppose they are moving to the current situation, after seeing what exists on the ground; and you have to always continuously review and revise your laws in keeping with the current and contemporary situation," she said.

She believes the Sexually Offences Act of 2009, as it now stands, adequately deals with every aspect of the sexual assault of another without their consent.

In 2006, then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Senator AJ Nicholson had put forward a number of amendments to the Offences Against the Person Act, emphasising that there was an urgent need to reform the legislation. Provisions were also being made at the time to change the definition of rape so that women could be charged for committing the offence.

Nicholson argued that the gender-neutral concept of the Bill had been revised on the basis that men and young boys were also exposed to sexual violation and given this reality, they too should be afforded protection from sexual offences.

"I recall that there was a very lengthy discussion at the Joint-Select Committee at Parliament by various stakeholders throughout the island on the issue and the consensus was that they also wanted to keep the traditional definition; that is the penetration of the vagina with the penis," said Webster.

But Webster believes that even though men can get justice for being sexually attacked by a woman under the Sexual Offences Act, males still shy away from reporting cases where they have suffered grievous sexual assault because they have been raised to be macho. The act of a woman forcing a man to have sex in some sections of the society is seen as a good thing rather than something to complain about.

"In our cultural situation and the way we have been socialised in our country, that is always a factor and that could be one of the reasons too why rape of boys and men could be even higher than we really see, because persons are just not going to want to report that kind of an issue. It is even difficult for women to come forward and report a rape, moreover when you look at the situation with men, " she said.

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