被禁止的性行为与性暴力

性暴力: 强奸

在过去，强奸（rape）常常被非常狭义地定义为“强制发生的性行为”，而“性行为”曾经被定义为阴道的性行为，即性交。其结果是，许多暴力的性举动并不被认为是强奸，而且也不被作为强奸案起诉，例如与女人和男人的强制手交、口交和肛交都不被认为是强奸。这样的行为可能会作为性攻击（sexual assault）而受到惩罚，但是从来不会作为强奸而受到严厉的惩罚。此外，在许多刑法条款里，并没有法律条款反对丈夫强奸妻子或没有法律条款反对主顾强奸妓女。

同时，很大程度上由于妇女运动的教育成就，许多立法机构已经改革了各自的法律。它们现在会认可两个事实：

人们现在完全明白，女人和男人都可能是强奸的受害人，而且也明白，强奸一名配偶与强奸其他任何人一样都是犯罪行为。不过，在我们讨论本主题之前，回顾一下强奸的历史状况也许是有益的。

Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence: Rape

In the past, rape was often very narrowly defined as “forcible sexual intercourse”, and “intercourse” was defined as vaginal intercourse, i.e. coitus. As a result, many violent sexual acts were not considered rape and were not prosecuted as such, for example the forcible manual, oral and anal intercourse with women and men. Such behavior may have been punished as sexual assault, but never as severely as rape. Moreover, in many criminal codes there was no law against husbands raping their wives or against a customer raping a prostitute.
In the meantime, thanks largely to the educational efforts of the women’s movement, many legislatures have reformed their respective laws. They now recognize two facts:

- rape is not so much a sexual crime as a crime of violence, and
- rape is by no means restricted to a single type of sexual activity.

It is now also well understood that both women and men can be victims, and that raping a spouse or a prostitute is just as criminal as any other rape.
Before discussing the present situation, however, it may be useful to take a brief look back at the history of rape.