France’s Senate is expected to give its final approval 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.
The bill was presented in January, just a few weeks after 51 men were convicted of raping and abusing Gisèle Pelicot in the 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.”
France poised to define rape as lack of consent
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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 country's far right, including Marine Le Pen's National Rally, voted against it.
The Senate is expected to give its final approval later Wednesday, the last step before the bill becomes law via official publication.
'A historic step forward'
Once approved, France will join many other European nations that have similar consent-based laws on rape, including neighbouring 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.
Advocacy groups welcomed the reform, while stressing it must be accompanied by deeper societal change.
"This is a historic step forward, following in the footsteps of several other European countries," said Lola Schulmann, advocacy officer at Amnesty International France.
"But it is only one step, because we know that there is still a long way to go to end impunity for gender-based and sexual violence," she added.
Over the past decade, dismissed rape cases increased from 82% to 94 %, according to 2024 IPP report
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Women's rights group CIDFF called for the reform to be accompanied by improved sex education, training for justice and police officials and increased resources for support groups.
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 Pelicot trial exposed how pornography, chatrooms and men’s disdain for or hazy understanding of consent are fuelling rape culture.
Gisèle Pelicot has since become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
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