France adopts consent-based rape law in the wake of landmark Gisèle Pelicot case
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- France’s Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation redefining rape as any non-consensual sexual act, fundamentally shifting how the nation prosecutes sexual assault.
- The historic change, inspired by Gisèle Pelicot’s widely publicized trial, places burden of proof on accused perpetrators rather than victims.
- France joins Germany, Belgium, and Spain in adopting consent-based rape laws, strengthening protections against sexual violence across Europe.
PARIS — France’s Senate gave its final approval on Wednesday to a bill defining rape and other sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act, a move that comes after the landmark drugging and rape trial that shook France and turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon.
Senators voted 327-0 in favor of the bill, with 15 abstentions.
The bill was presented in January following the conviction of 51 men for the rape and abuse of Gisèle Pelicot in a case which spurred a national reckoning over rape culture in France.
Marie-Charlotte Garin and Véronique Riotton, lawmakers for the Greens and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, respectively, who championed the bill, wrote: “It’s time to take action and take a new step forward in the fight against sexual violence.”
The bill states that “any non-consensual sexual act constitutes sexual assault.”
Consent is defined as “freely given, informed, specific, prior and revocable” and assessed “in the light of the circumstances.” The text says it “cannot be inferred solely from the silence or the lack of reaction of the victim.”
The bill also specifies that there is no consent if the sexual act is committed with “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”
Last week, it was widely approved by lawmakers from almost all ranks at the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament. The far right voted against it.
The Senate’s approval is the last step before the bill becomes law via official publication.
France rejoins many other European nations that have similar consent-based laws on rape, including neighboring Germany, Belgium and Spain.
Until now, rape under French law was defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.” France has taken other steps in recent years to toughen punishment for sexual misconduct, including setting 15 as the age of consent.
In December, Pelicot’s ex-husband and 50 other men were convicted of sexually assaulting her between 2011 and 2020 while she was under chemical submission.
Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while sentences for other defendants ranged from three to 15 years imprisonment. An appeals court handed a stiffer 10-year sentence earlier this month to the only man who challenged his conviction.
The harrowing and unprecedented trial exposed how pornography, chatrooms and men’s disdain for, or hazy understanding of, consent is fueling rape culture.
Gisèle Pelicot has since become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence.
Corbet writes for the Associated Press.
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