Page "Consensual crime" Paragraph 17

* Sexual and non-sexual assaults involving the use or threatened use of violence which causes injuries and which would be criminal in all other situations ( e. g. sadism and masochism ).

In more extreme cases of edgeplay where a rape fantasy may be enacted by prior agreement, the offence of rape will not be committed because the " victim " has actually consented to sexual intercourse.

The issue of consent in fact, or belief in the existence of consent, is fundamental to determining whether a rape has, or has not, been committed.

In English law, for example, s74 Sexual Offences Act 2003 provides that consent is present " if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice ".

If the " victim " is unconscious when penetration occurs, he would not be consenting, but this might not be rape if there is a subsisting sexual relationship, e. g. the couple are married, and the other might reasonably believe that consent to intercourse existed by virtue of that relationship.

Note that, if the " victim " is physically injured, the causing of those injuries can still be charged as an assault whether there is actual consent or not.

As a defence, offenders may plead that the other consented to the acts, and argue that any injuries sustained were accidental rather than intentional, leaving it to the jury to make a decision on their truthfulness.