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French lawmakers approved a bill on Wednesday that redefines rape as any sexual act that occurs without consent, making France the newest European country to implement a law based on consent.
The penal code will now incorporate the concept of consent into the legal definition of rape after the Senate endorsed the legislation in the final step of an extensive legislative process.
This law represents a transition “from a culture of rape to a culture of consent,” remarked centrist lawmaker Veronique Riotton after the bill, which she co-sponsored, was passed by the lower house last week.
According to the text, consent must be “free and informed, specific, prior and revocable,” and assessed in context, clarifying 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.
Advocacy organisations have praised the reform, while emphasising that it requires further societal transformation.
The legislation follows the case of Gisele Pelicot, which reignited discussions about consent nationwide. Her former husband was found guilty of drugging her and orchestrating non-consensual encounters with multiple strangers during their marriage.
The only opposition came from far-right lawmakers, who criticised the new definition of consent as “subjective, shifting, and difficult to grasp.”
National Rally lawmaker Sophie Blanc previously said that this change would redirect attention to the victim’s actions instead of the perpetrator’s violence.
However, proponents of the reform argue that it will shift the responsibility onto offenders to demonstrate that consent was given.
