This petition was submitted during the 2010-2015 parliament
Rejected petition Rape Law to be made Neutral
More details
In the Sexual Offences Act 2004, perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are defined with the "he" pronoun, which implies that only men commit these acts. Also, the definition of rape states that the act must be done with a penis.
As it stands, this description is incredibly biased against men and harmful to people of all genders due to the glaring loopholes in its wording. The entire section should be revised to replace male pronouns with gender neutral words such as "they" and rape should be redefined as any penetration - not just that performed with a penis.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.