Legal Landmark legal revision: Japan to redefine rape

Just in from the BBC: The Japanese parliament is now debating a landmark bill to reform the country's sexual assault laws, only the second revision in a century. The bill covers several changes, but the biggest and most significant one will see lawmakers redefine rape from "forcible sexual intercourse" to "non-consensual sexual intercourse" - effectively making legal room for consent in a society where the concept is still poorly understood.

Current Japanese law defines rape as sexual intercourse or indecent acts committed "forcibly" and "through assault or intimidation" or by taking advantage of a person's "unconscious state or inability to resist". This is at odds with many other countries which define it more broadly as any non-consensual intercourse or sexual act - where no means no.

In a 2014 Tokyo case, a man pinned a 15-year-old girl to a wall and had sex with her while she resisted. He was acquitted of rape as the court ruled that his actions did not make her "extremely difficult" to resist. The teenager was treated as an adult because the age of consent in Japan is only 13 years - the lowest among the world's wealthiest democracies.

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