The Language of Sexual Crime: Consent an Essential Factor in Sexual Offenses

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1 Introduction
Consent can be found in different kinds of human activities, including recruiting, signing contracts, giving approval for medical treatment and engaging in sexual activities. Especially in sexual activities, consent is a critical element for making conduct permissible. Although there are some studies on discussing whether the occurrence of consent is an essential factor in sexual offences (Pineau 1989; Tiersma 2007), it remains important in Hong Kong legislation. Hong Kong Ordinances Cap.200 s.118 has stated that,
“(3) A man commits rape if –
(a) he was unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who at the time of the intercourse does not consent to it; and
(b) at that time he knows that she does not consent to the intercourse or he is reckless as to whether she consents to it.”
“Consent(s)” appears three times in this subsection and acts as main verb in the subordinate clauses. This indicates that consent is a crucial point.

2 Methodology
Even though scholars’ opinions on consent as a speech act are discordant, these opinions show different dimensions of consent and help this study to be more comprehensive. This study will be descriptive and analytical in nature. It will take qualitative approach and adopt concrete methods, such as comparison, analysis and interpretation, for in-depth discussion. We will discuss Tiersma’s viewpoints and tend to interpret what consent is. To support our arguments, the Cantonese discourse in the Chinese judgments of the rape cases from Hong Kong Judiciary will be used. Each Chinese judgment will be examined for ensuring that those judgments consist of Cantonese discourse related to sexual consent. We will apply Speech Act Theory to the analysis of consent in the Cantonese discourse....

... middle of paper ...

...l Pragmatics within Speech Act: Refusal in Chinese and American Culture”, Overseas English, p.183-196.
11. Pineau, L. (1989) “Date Rape: A Feminist Analysis”, Law and Philosophy 8, p.217-243.
12. Searle, J. R. (1969) Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge University Press.
13. Searle, J. R. (1979) Expression and Meaning: Essays in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14. Tian, Q. (2009) “On the Refusal Speech Act Theory and Prototype Theory”, Journal of Ji Xi University 9 (1), p.133-135.
15. Tiersma, P. M. (2007) “The Language and Consent in Rape Law”, in Cotterill, J. (ed.), The Language and Sexual Crime (p.83-103), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
16. Westen, P. (2004) The Logic of Consent: the Diversity and Deceptiveness of Consent as a Defense to Criminal Conduct, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Group.

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