France’s Parliament has adopted a landmark law – that defines rape as any non-consensual sexual act, a significant milestone in the fight against sexual violence in the country.
In an overdue change, France is following Denmark, Finland, Spain, Greece, and other European nations in updating legal provisions that make clear autonomy, particularly women and girls’ sexual autonomy, is at the heart of sexual relations.
The French Parliament’s move follows renewed calls to enshrine consent into law following the case of Gisèle Pelicot, a woman who was drugged by her husband and raped repeatedly by dozens of men. The case resulted in fifty-one convictions and spurred widespread feminist mobilization and renewed calls to enshrine consent in law.
But adequately protecting the rights of the countless individuals, especially women and girls, who face the risk of sexual violence each year demands more than correcting the criminal definition of rape. It requires policies such as implementing comprehensive sexuality education for children and adults as well as reshaping cultural attitudes and fostering a society where consent is expected and respected. People need to understand consent not just as an abstract legal concept, but a fundamental principle governing all intimate interactions. Additionally, France’s healthcare and justice systems should center the needs of sexual violence survivors.
It is also critical that French authorities refrain from cutting and undermining public funding and instead strengthen its support for associations dedicated to sexual and reproductive rights and support for rape survivors.
Rape survivors around the world encounter so many obstacles when seeking justice and reparations that for many, if not most, reporting sexual violence is an act of heroism rather than exercising a right. Many survivors have seen justice arrive late, if at all, and often without reparations. For countless others, justice remains out of reach. In France, according to a study by the Institute of Public Policy between 2012 and 2021, 94 percent of rape complaints and 86 percent of sexual violence complaints were dismissed by the justice system. These are reminders of the debt societies have to sexual violence survivors.
France’s recognition that rape is fundamentally about the absence of consent rather than the presence of force or intimidation marks significant progress, but authorities should also continue their efforts toward the total eradication of a culture of rape and sexual violence.
The goal should be to reduce the occurrence of rape, as well as to increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice, so that we can live in a society where sexual violence becomes increasingly rare because consent is universally understood, respected, and honored.