The French state will introduce by law the abolition of the so-called „conjugal rights”, the concept that marriage implies the obligation to have sexual relations.
A bill approved on Wednesday by the National Assembly adds a provision to the French civil code stating that „cohabitation union” does not create an „obligation of sexual relations”, reports BBC.
The proposed law also makes it impossible to use the lack of sexual relations as an argument in divorce based on one spouse's fault.
Although unlikely to have a major impact in court, supporters hope that the law will help deter marital rape.
"By allowing the persistence of such a right or obligation, we collectively approve a system of domination by the husband over the wife," said Deputy Marie-Charlotte Garin from the Green Party, a supporter of the bill.
"Marriage cannot be a bubble where consent for sex is considered final and lifelong," she emphasized.
An Ambiguity in Medieval Church Doctrine
The law will eliminate a long-standing ambiguity, despite there being no explicit mention of "conjugal obligation" in any legal text.
Currently, the French civil code defines the duties of marriage as "respect, fidelity, support, and assistance" and stipulates that spouses engage in a "communion of life."
Nowhere in the legal provisions is there mention of "conjugal" rights - meaning sexual relations. The origins of this notion lie in medieval church doctrine, notes the BBC.
However, judges in modern divorce proceedings have sometimes given a broad interpretation of the concept of "communion of life" to include sexual relations.
The Decision that Changed Everything
In a famous case from 2019, a woman was found guilty of refusing sexual relations with her husband for several years, leading to a "fault-based" divorce being granted to him.
However, the woman appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which last year condemned France for accepting the refusal of sexual relations as a reason for a fault-based divorce.
The decision was hailed as a significant step forward by feminist organizations.
The ECHR decision effectively prevented any French divorce judge from making a similar ruling. For this reason, the new legislative proposal is designed more as a clarification, with little likelihood of a major impact in court.
For activists, the notion that wives have a "duty" to accept sexual relations with their husbands persists in certain parts of society and must be combated.
What the Law Says Now about Rape and Consent
The Mazan case from 2024 - in which Gisèle Pelicot, drugged and unconscious, was repeatedly raped by men recruited by her husband - is considered emblematic in this regard. Several defendants stated they assumed her consent because of what her husband had told them.
In France, as in most other countries, marital rape is now provided for by law, whereas before 1990, men could argue that marriage implied consent for sexual relations.
Since last November, the legal definition of rape in France has also been expanded to include the notion of lack of consent.
Prior to this, rape was defined as a sexual act committed with "violence, coercion, threat, or surprise." Now it is any act where there is no "informed, specific, prior, and revocable consent." According to the law, silence or lack of reaction does not imply consent.
T.D.