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I don't think this is derailing a thread, because there are multiple stereotypes relating to women and sex that could use some busting up. This is one of those issues. The idea that the woman is always a passive party and the man always an active party in sexual intercourse is completely indefensible, sexist nonsense. It also provides an interesting segway into the use of language in the discussion and the way it shapes stereotypes.
We define sex by the masculine role of penetrating, so of course folks see the man as the active party when the idea of sex comes up. It's built into the language. Let us change the terminology. Let us define sex as the act of enveloping. No longer will the man penetrate the woman, the woman will envelop the man. The vagina envelops the penis. The woman is the active party and the man passive. The woman is the actor, doing the enveloping, and the man is passive, the object being used in the act of sexual intercourse.
To speak of sex in terms of active parties and passive parties is a matter of the language you choose to frame the debate. Because men have been framing the debate for years it seems that framing it from the masculine perspective is the most natural way (to me at least) it is still however arbitrary. There are no passive parties in act of sexual intercourse. This is the crux of the issue of female rape as well. Determining the active and/or passive party is irrelevant to whether or not a rape has taken place, the issue is one of being able to freely consent to being an active party.
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The advantage law is the best law in rugby, because it lets you ignore all the others for the good of the game.
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