The Courts have long know that rape is an easy allegation to make but one that is hard to disprove. The Courts perceived the potential threat of false allegations of rape and fashioned Jury Instructions to inform members of the jury that such allegations were easy to make by the complainant but difficult for the defendant to disprove. Today, this jury instruction is no longer allowed to be given as a result of changes in the law, changes that also mandate giving a very different set of instructions. In short, there is no requirement for obtaining a conviction other than the bare allegation made by a complainant. Even the manner in which the jury is selected is tainted with this attitude that evidence does not matter.
Consensual sex is still legal.
Being able to prove consent, however, has become more difficult for the defendant. For example, if a man meets a women at a bar and has sex with her that night and later she claims that she was raped, the man use to be able to introduce evidence to help establish a pattern of consensual sexual behavior on the woman's part. That might be the testimony by witnesses that the women routinely comes to the bar every night, engages a man's companionship, and then goes home and has sexual relations. Such evidence is highly relevant to show the sex on the night in question was consensual. This type of evidence is no longer admissible.