Forcibly pushing a tongue into someone else’s mouth should no longer be classed as rape, the Dutch high court said on Tuesday.

Defining what the Dutch call tongzoenen as rape ‘conflicts with everyday usage and therefore falls outside the definition of rape’, the court said. Forcing a tongue into someone’s mouth will still be a criminal offence but will have a lighter maximum sentence.

The high court said earlier that any forced penetration – including by tongues – should be seen as rape.

The ruling follows a case in which a man was accused of rape after forcibly kissing a woman using his tongue, news agency ANP said.

Schools

Meanwhile, sexuality research institute Rutgers WPF says in Tuesday’s NRC that all secondary schools should draw up rules to make it clear that some forms of sexual behaviour are unacceptable.

Some pupils are no longer aware of when they cross socially-acceptable boundaries with their fellow pupils which is contributing to an unsafe atmosophere at schools, a spokesman told the paper.

Recent research shows some 12% of school pupils have had to deal with unwanted sexually-tinged comments, behaviour and abuse, the paper says.