Why not use a legal definition of "sexual assault"? It is surely more definitive than Wikipedia or Wiktionary.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/920 is the relevant US military law. It distinguishes between "rape" (which often involves the use of force) and "sexual assault" (which often does not). For example, sexual assault includes non-consensual sex, including sex with someone who is unconscious.
Other jurisdictions replaced rape laws with sexual assault laws, and don't distinguish between the two.
Colorado's definition of "sexual assault" is at https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-18-criminal-code/co-rev-st-sect-18-3-402.html . It includes many examples where violence is not required, such as "The actor knows that the victim submits erroneously, believing the actor to be the victim's spouse" and "At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is at least fifteen years of age but less than seventeen years of age and the actor is at least ten years older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim".
These follows from the second part of the Wiktionary definition, "... or a sexual act committed without explicit consent". You cannot consent if you are unaware that the person you are having sex with is not actually your spouse. You cannot consent if you are under the age of consent (with limited exceptions, eg, due to similarity of age or having sex with one's spouse.)
That is, the Wiktionary entry should be read as having two distinct parts "(A physical attack of a sexual nature on another person) or (a sexual act committed without explicit consent)", and Stallman is wrong to focus on only the first part.
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Re: I need a better understanding
Date: 2019-09-15 03:58 am (UTC)https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/920 is the relevant US military law. It distinguishes between "rape" (which often involves the use of force) and "sexual assault" (which often does not). For example, sexual assault includes non-consensual sex, including sex with someone who is unconscious.
Other jurisdictions replaced rape laws with sexual assault laws, and don't distinguish between the two.
Colorado's definition of "sexual assault" is at https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-18-criminal-code/co-rev-st-sect-18-3-402.html . It includes many examples where violence is not required, such as "The actor knows that the victim submits erroneously, believing the actor to be the victim's spouse" and "At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is at least fifteen years of age but less than seventeen years of age and the actor is at least ten years older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim".
These follows from the second part of the Wiktionary definition, "... or a sexual act committed without explicit consent". You cannot consent if you are unaware that the person you are having sex with is not actually your spouse. You cannot consent if you are under the age of consent (with limited exceptions, eg, due to similarity of age or having sex with one's spouse.)
That is, the Wiktionary entry should be read as having two distinct parts "(A physical attack of a sexual nature on another person) or (a sexual act committed without explicit consent)", and Stallman is wrong to focus on only the first part.