Represent for consent

If a man wants to have sex with a woman and she says no but he does so anyway, it's rape; we all should know that by now. But if she consents and then changes her mind, the exact definition -- legally -- is not so clear.\nAccording to a Time magazine article, a recent ruling from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, which could be sent to the state's highest court soon, says that this scenario would not constitute rape. In fact, in Maryland and North Carolina, once a woman agrees to sex, she can't take back that decision and still claim she was raped.\nThe basis of this law can be traced back to early English common law, when a woman and her virginity were seen as her husband's property. It followed the thinking that once her virginity was taken, it could never be restored, and so once she consented, the deal was done.\nBut times have changed, and the law should as well. To date, only Illinois has passed legislation explicitly giving women the right to change their minds, though seven states have supported that right through the courts system. The other 42 states should take heed and address this issue before they are forced to when it is brought up in a trial. Legislators should act to ensure that women across the country can be confident in making their decisions and know that the state will protect them when they do say no.\nWhat if sex begins to hurt? What if a woman finds out her partner potentially has a sexually transmitted infection? What if she simply decides she does not want to participate in sex with her partner? The possibilities are endless, but the reason why a woman would change her mind is of the least importance. \nSome argue that men simply can't stop once they are engaged in a sexual act, like Mel Feit, executive director of the National Center for Men, a male-advocacy group based in Old Bethpage, N.Y.. Feit told Time, "At a certain point during arousal, (men) don't have complete control over our ability to stop. ... To equate that with brutal, violent rape weakens the whole concept of rape."\nBut this argument is completely ludicrous and only serves to dehumanize males as a whole. Men are capable of making choices -- including the choice to stop when their partner says so -- and should be held responsible for their actions.\nOthers have argued that the situation becomes tricky when asking how long men have to stop after women change their minds and say no. This is a decision that can really only be thoroughly assessed on a case-by-case basis, but the answer in short should be simply immediately.\nWomen -- and men -- should have absolute control over their own bodies, including the right to make choices about sex and say no at any point in time, regardless of all other factors.