Two conditions must be met for a person rightly to be considered the victim of a crime. The first is that a victim of some form of harm must exist. Second, the harm was the direct result of an act in which the harmed individual did not knowingly consent to take part. Crimes are considered offenses against the government rather than against the victim, but consent or the lack of consent are crucial in determining criminal responsibility for some offenses. The meaning of consent is most clearly bound to the harm involved in sexual victimization and particularly in rape. Common assumptions about the sexual victimization of women have experienced major challenges over the last three decades. These new challenges have focused on issues of both consent and harm and in doing so have put the definitions of victimless crime in question. Attention has now begun to shift from actual physical force to overt as well as more subtle forms of coercion that affect free will and undermine voluntary and informed consent. The level of societal tolerance will ultimately define the victim, the crime, and the criminal. The law clearly has a role in changing sexual norms, although the future definition of harm and thus of victimization remains to be developed. Understanding the history and complexity of consent and harm will contribute to the shaping of that definition. List of cases cited and 31 references (Author abstract modified)