At what point did rape and other forms of compartmentalizations of sexual intercourse occur? And relatedly, at what point did “consent” become a thing?

by phantomholiday143

I am fascinated with mythology and saw a post about the sculpture “The Rape of Proserpina”. Someone in the comments had mentioned that rape at this time was not necessarily referred to as “intercourse against the wishes of one participant” as we do, but as “intercourse against the wishes of one of the participants family/parent(s). (Also, note worthy to mention someone else said it translates to ‘Rapt of Proserpina’ instead of its ubiquitous title that was translated incorrectly; “rapt” is apparently more akin to kidnapping than rape).

This intrigued me, as it seemingly implied that consent was given by the family, not the actual person having sex.

That being said, I was wondering at what point all of our categorizations of sex and how to truly define it occurred? At what point did people-but especially women-have the “right” to say no? And what led to this advancement inciting?

thefourthmaninaboat

Hi there! We've removed your question because it's asking basic facts which can be answered by reference works. These include, but are not limited to, a name, a number, a date or time, a location, the origin of a word, or first/last instance of a specific phenomenon. We'd encourage you to instead post this question in the weekly, stickied "Short Answers to Simple Questions" thread, where questions of basic fact can be answered succinctly, based on reliable sources. For more information on this rule, please see this thread.

Alternatively, if you didn't mean to ask a simple question about basic facts, but have a more complex question in mind, feel free to repost a reworded question. If you need some pointers, the mod team is always happy to assist if you contact us in modmail, but also be sure to check out this guide on asking better questions.

Finally, don’t forget that there's many subreddits on Reddit aimed at answering your questions. Consider /r/AskHistory (which has lighter moderation but similar topic matter to /r/AskHistorians), /r/explainlikeimfive (which is specifically aimed at simple and easily digested answers), or /r/etymology (which focuses on the origins of words and phrases).