The issue of women raping males has arisen following the recent decision by a committee of Parliament against enacting a gender-neutral definition of rape. The legislators were debating An Act to Amend the Incest (Punishment) Act, and An Act to Amend the Offences Against the Person Act.

But psychologist Dr. Judith Leiba argues that the laws which govern age of consent and child abuse should be gender neutral, thus taking into account the case of the female perpetrator and male victim. "Certainly, a women can rape a man, but this scenario does not often come to the public view because of the taboos and fears that exist in our society," she posits. "Our current level of homophobia may prevent an unwilling male from coming to the fore with such a charge as he may be afraid of being accused of being homosexual."

According to Dr. McGill, rape happens when a woman who is in authority - a female employer for example - uses this position to force sexual acts on or favours from males. "I don't think women need to exercise physical force to rape a man," he argues. "Their coercion, aggressiveness and seductiveness are the things that they employ. A lot has to do with power differentials - holding positions of authority or celebrity with power used in place of muscles," the family counsellor adds.

Under Jamaican law, the definition of rape is likely to remain restricted to situations in which the female is the victim and the male the offender. Sexual intercourse is defined in local law as the "penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of one person by the penis of another person; the vagina or anus of one person by a part of the body of another person; or an object held or manipulated by another person, other than for the purposes of conducting searches authorised by law or for bona fide medical purposes."

According to the Canadian Children's Right Council, 86 per cent of the victims of female sexual predators are not believed, so the crimes go unreported and do not get prosecuted, the council said. In adition, the Health Canada report of 1996 noted it was a common assumption that females did not or could not sexually abuse children or youth. Now, research also notes there is an alarmingly high rate - 59 per cent - of sexual abuse by females in the backgrounds of rapists, sex offenders and sexually aggressive men.

David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Centre at the University of New Hampshire, U.S.A., argues that the rise in recognition and prosecution of female sexual predators is due, at least in part, to the increased number of female police officers as they allow prosecution of female sexual predators without the police being labelled misogynistic.