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Last Updated:June 21, 2025, 15:43 IST
The French Senate approved a bill that would overhaul the country’s legal framework on sexual assault. What is the proposed law?
Consent-based rape laws define rape not by the presence of violence but by the absence of agreement.
France is on the verge of a landmark shift in how it prosecutes rape as the country is moving to legally define it as any sexual act without consent. The proposed reform follows the high-profile conviction of Dominique Pélicot, found guilty of drugging his wife so he and others could rape her. This week, the French Senate approved a bill that would overhaul the country’s legal framework on sexual assault- thereby placing consent at the center of the law.
What Are Consent-Based Rape Laws?
Consent-based rape laws define rape not by the presence of violence but by the absence of agreement- recognising that many victims may not resist physically due to fear, shock or power imbalance. Under such a legal framework, consent must be given freely and can be withdrawn at any time- a departure from older legal standards that placed the burden on victims to prove they resisted or fought back. The focus shifts on whether the accused had any reasonable basis to believe they had the other person’s clear and unambiguous agreement.
What Law Is France Proposing?
France’s current definition of rape is based on proof of violence, coercion, threat or surprise- which critics believe fails to capture the reality of many assaults owing to which many cases do not count as rape under the present legal framework. The bill- which is yet to clear its final legislative hurdle- redefines all sexual assaults, including rape, as “any non-consensual act." It introduces a clear legal definition of consent as “free and informed, specific, prior and revocable" and explicitly states that consent cannot be inferred from silence or lack of resistance. This means that the absence of a “no" will no longer be enough to claim consent existed. France’s Equality Minister Aurore Bergé called the Senate’s vote “a decisive step towards a genuine culture of consent." She said, “Consent is not saying no. It’s saying yes- an explicit yes, freely, without constraint or ambiguity."
Which Countries Have Consent-Based Rape Laws?
In recent years, several countries across Europe have moved to adopt consent-based rape laws. Sweden passed a landmark law in 2018 that defines rape as any sexual act without explicit and voluntary consent. Germany reformed its laws in 2016, adopting a “no means no" model that criminalizes any sexual activity carried out against a person’s discernible will, even in the absence of physical force. Spain followed in 2022 with the “Only Yes Means Yes" law, passed after the widely protested “La Manada" gang rape case, making affirmative consent the legal requirement.
Denmark introduced a similar model in 2021 and Belgium updated its legislation in 2022 to include not only physical but also psychological and economic coercion as invalidating consent. The Netherlands passed consent-based reforms in 2023, explicitly stating that mutual and voluntary agreement must be present in all sexual encounters while Finland, Iceland and Slovenia have all passed similar laws.
Location :France
First Published:News world France Set To Redefine Rape Based On Consent: What It Means And Which Countries Have Similar Laws?
