Under the legal definition of rape it is entirely possible that a four year old boy could rape - penetration by penis of vagina, anus or mouth. Of course a four year old boy could never be charged with rape as he is under the age of criminal liability.
Isn't that a separate offence, though? Rape is defined in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as pentetration with the penis; anything else is "assault by penetration". So far as I can tell this hasn't changed.
//Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration perpetrated against a person without that person's consent.// No mention of penis or vagina there.
where the various offences are defined. Compare sections 1.1.a and 2.1.a. So far as I can tell the definition doesn't change if the offender is a child.
Bearing in mind the stated age of four, do 'experts' now discourage doctors and nurses games. What used to be known as exploring ones body and/or sexuality.
We do seem to reinvent stuff to keep ologists in work.
I was wondering if someone would bring that up, douglas -- I had understood that for at least some children there was some level of experimentation like that, and perhaps this is reflecting a redefinition from (unusual) games as a child to full-blown offences. If so, then that in itself is a worrying trend, but I suspect there's a bit more to it than just paranoid adults.
We had a case at my daughter's school, not in this country, where a five year old boy 'attacked' another boy.....the school, a prestigious one, tried to hush it up because of who his father was and, as a consequence, a number of we parents withdrew our kids and the year's teachers walked out as well.
It's not the net, I would say, I would point a very large finger at his parents/family as where has he learned this from - a victim of abuse, I bet.
Now see, if I can get away with this word as to the AB police, buggery and penetration of any kind are acts more than kids just mucking around, learning the first ropes of sexuality, jim.