 "Marie-Charlotte Garin, a Green MP, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, July 8, 2025. AFP")
After the France’s lower house approved the bill on Thursday, the French senators are set to vote on a bill that would describe any sexual act without the consent as rape, positing France the latest European country to pass a consent-based law on Wednesday.
The bill was approved by 155 votes to 31, marking the adoption of necessary and ethical change by the Senate.
Urgent need of consent based-law
The bill comes as a result of the recent shameful incident of a Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot who was intoxicated with drugs by her own husband who called up a multitude of strangers to come and rape her which boiled the blood of various citizens across the country.
This measure will define any disapproval or non-consensual act as rape and the convict will suffer under the label of a criminal.
Culture of consent
Centrist policymaker, Veronique Riotton, who co-sponsored the bill stated “The text sends a signal from a culture of rape to a culture of consent.”
Consent is the approval and must be informed and specific without causing harm to the other, noting that there is no silence and lack of creation.
Interest groups embraced the bill stating that societal change should occur by this reform and set up a real and deep emotional well-being.
Consent-based rape laws already exist in several European countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
(With inputs from AFP)