With the final favorable vote of the Senate, the French Parliament approved this Wednesday the inclusion of consent in the criminal definition of rapewhich had already been endorsed by the National Assembly.
A measure that gained new momentum following the trial for mass rape of Gisele Pelicot and the indignation it caused in French society.
Until now, French criminal law defined rape as an act of penetration or oral sex committed against a person through “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise”. Did not specify the need for consent and the Prosecutor’s Office had to prove the intention to rape to obtain a conviction.
Last December, the husband of Gisele Pelicot admitted before a court in the south of France that hHe had repeatedly drugged his wife and recruited dozens of men online to rape her. while he was unconscious.
At least 35 of Dominique Pelicot’s co-defendants denied rape charges, arguing in court that they were engaged in a sex game or that Gisele Pelicot was pretending to sleep. All were found guilty, but their attempts to evade justice revealed a gray area in the law.
The new law, which requires the signature of President Emmanuel Macron to come into force, establishes that Consent must be “free, informed and revocable.”
This consent must be evaluated “in light of the circumstances” and “cannot be presumed based on mere silence or the absence of resistance on the part of the victim,” according to the law.
The Senate approved the proposal with 327 votes in favor and 15 abstentions
Division in feminism
Despite the agreement that the proposal aroused in recent months within the Legislative Branch, the inclusion of consent in the law nevertheless generatedand divisions within French feminism.
Some organizations, such as the National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families (CIDFF), which is dedicated to promoting the right to access rights, took a position in favor considering that it contributes to better condemning the crime of rape.
Especially because in France, according to the data managed by feminist entities, 90% of raped women do not report and, in the cases that do, 90% of complaints are filed and only 1% of rapists accused by their victims are finally convicted.
Others were against this, considering that the notion of consent was already implicit in the current law and that the new wording is much more interpretive.