I would love to have the opportunity of preparing a full argument in support of it being an assault upon a person, and that is a crime. Unfortunately it would take more time than I can realistically give to do so, just for the purposes of this discussion.

However addressing some of the points raised in this thread. The UK Criminal Code defines rape as

“sexual intercourse with a woman

(1) incapable of defending herself, where she did not consent;

(2) who was compelled by means of force or threats;

(3) who was brought to a state of defencelessness by the perpetrator.”

Clearly psychological force is as valid as physical force when examining the circumstances concerning rape, and this has been upheld in case law. Therefore the lack of physical force in a cyber offense should not be a prohibitive factor.

In response to EB et al - there is an involving understanding, which has been accepted by the European Court of Human Rights that there are two patterns of response by rape victims to their attacker - violent physical resistance and 'frozen fight'. The result of the latter is the victim, terrorised, often adopts a passive response model of submission, characteristic of childhood, or sought a psychological dissociation from the event, as if it were not happening to her. The relevance of this is that clearly a victim may not be capable of just closing the window.

The only remaining issue would be whether in the virtual rape scenario the victim is abused. I doubt if many of us here who have had internet relationships would not argue against the potency of such relationships. Within such a relationship, I would say there clearly is scope of abuse.

In my view, virtual rape should be crime of abuse, and if it is not, it will become so as test cases are brought for consideration and ultimately legislation is moved forwards. It is not a crime of rape since sexual intercourse has not taken place.

Quote Originally Posted by IDCrewDawg View Post
Additionally, I am curious to know how others feel if a rape were committed/attempted in an online environment. Should legal action be taken? Or would just simply banning that IP address be sufficient?
If it is a crime, there is an existence of a positive obligation to investigate and punish. Merely being prevented from using one particular site/server with one particular IP address seems to be laughable. That is akin to saying that a convicted abuser is not permitted to return to a particular area wearing a particular pair of shoes.

My thoughts,
cariad

edit: Just awarded self C- for logic. Having said that I believe it is a crime of abuse, not one of rape, the point about rape not needing physical force is irrelevant, however I am leaving it in since it is a truth not yet universally acknowledged. The point about 'frozen fight' is transferable. Although that it is a clear fallacy in my argument, the same logic does also apply to abuse.