The French parliament has ratified an amendment to add consent to the legal definition of sexual assault and rape law.
Previously, rape or sexual abuse in France had been defined as 'any form of sexual penetration committed with the use of violence, coercion, threat or surprise'.
Now, the law will state that all sexual acts done to another without consent constitute rape.
The change is the result of a cross-party, years-long debate which gained renewed urgency after last year's Pelicot rape trial, where 50 men were found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she had been drugged unconscious by her husband Dominique.
The defence of many of the accused hinged on the argument that they could not be guilty of rape because they were unaware Ms. Pelicot was not able to consent.
Some defence lawyers in the Pelicot case had argued that there could be no crime without the intention to commit it. The new bill will make this argument more tenuous, as it stipulates that consent must be 'free and informed, specific, prior and revocable.'
The law now states that consent will have to be evaluated according to the circumstances, specifically that it cannot be inferred from 'silence or lack of reaction.'
There is no consent if the sexual act is committed through violence, coercion, threat or surprise, whatever their nature, it states.
The two MPs who drafted the amendment, the Greens' Marie-Charlotte Garin and centrist Véronique Riotton, hailed the decision as a 'historic victory' and a 'major step forward in the fight against sexual violence.'
However, some critics of the amendment argued it would convert sexual relations into 'contracts.' Others were concerned that the changes could force victims of rape to prove they had not consented.
France's highest administrative court, the Council of State (Conseil d'État), supported the amendment in March, stating it would 'clearly express... that sexual assaults infringe upon the fundamental principle of everyone's personal and sexual freedom.'
An initial version of the bill was adopted by the National Assembly in April, though its progression was delayed due to France's current political turmoil. On Wednesday, the Senate definitively adopted the bill, with 327 votes in favor and 15 abstentions, leading to its final approval in parliament.
In the past, Greens senator Mélanie Vogel noted that while society had 'already accepted' that the distinction between sex and rape is consent, criminal law needed to catch up.
'This is a historic step forward, following in the footsteps of several other European countries,' commented Lola Schulmann, advocacy officer at Amnesty International France. Countries like Sweden, Germany, and Spain have already implemented consent-based rape laws.
