SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last week that updated the definition of rape to include all forms of sexual penetration.

AB701 was introduced in response to a loophole in California state penal code that the Brock Turner case highlighted. Turner, a student at Stanford University, served only three months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

AB701 states that all forms of non-consensual sexual assault may be considered rape for purposes of the gravity of the offense and the support of survivors. 
 
“Sexual penetration without consent is rape.  It is never invited, wanted or warranted. Rape is rape, period,” said Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, who co-authored the bill with Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman. "When we fail to call rape “rape,” we rob survivors and their families of the justice they deserve.”
 
"It will take an enormous effort not only from legislators, but everyone, to overturn rape culture, and we are starting here,” added Eggman. “With AB701, we will change the antiquated, heterosexist definition of rape that persists in current law. If we’re going to end rape culture we must call rape what it is.”
 
According to the Human Rights Campaign, 46 percent of bisexual women have been raped, compared to 17 percent of heterosexual women and 40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of heterosexual men