PARIS – The French parliament on Thursday passed legislation that calls sex with a child under the age of 15 a rape and could punish up to 20 years in prison, bringing the penal code closer to many other Western countries.
While the age of consent was previously 15, prosecutors in France had previously been required to prove that sex was not unanimous in convicting a rape.
“This is a historic law for our children and our society,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told the National Assembly.
“No adult attacker can claim the consent of a minor under 15 years of age.”
The vote in favor of the bill was unanimous during its final reading, the Assembly said on Twitter.
There have been concerns from some lawmakers that an age of consent including sex rape could automatically rape a sexual relationship between a minor and a person who is only a few years older.
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As a result, a “Romeo and Juliet” clause enabling sexual relations between minors and individuals up to five years older is possible. The clause does not apply in cases of sexual assault.
The legislation considers incestuous sex with minors under 18 as rape.
In a country that has long nurtured its self-esteem as the land of seduction and romance, sexual abuse against women and children has gone unnoticed or unexplained for years in the upper power and within celebrity circles.
But a lot of psychological research has been done over the last few years.
The #MeToo movement that swept the world after numerous women accused American filmmaker Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault in 2017 was a turning point in France. So too did the fall from grace in 2020 fall from a French writer who wrote openly about his pedophilia.
France had already tightened its laws on sex crimes in 2018 when it banned sexual harassment on the streets, facing cat-callers and aggressively sloppy individuals with fines on the spot.