Spain: controversy over the law of sexual consent

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid on July 30, 2022. AP - Armin Durgut

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Approved on October 7, the law of sexual consent had been presented by the socialist government as a great feminist conquest.

Basically, it stipulates that a woman must fully say "yes" so that sexual intercourse is not considered rape.

This text emanated from a gang rape at the Pamplona festivities in 2016. However, this law is now very controversial, because it has resulted in reduced sentences.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

With this new law, it was enough for some sex offenders to be released from prison as a preventive measure and for some sentences to be reduced.

And that set fire to the powder.

Within the government, ministers of the radical left and socialists immediately accused the judges in question of having made “ 

 ”.

Opposite, the council of the judiciary defended itself by saying that the problem lies in that the law would have been badly designed, and would thus give rise to contradictory and controversial sanctions.

As a result, the government and the judiciary, already at loggerheads, rail against each other even more.

What is it exactly?

Perhaps both accusations are true.

The heart of the law is to no longer distinguish between sexual abuse and rape, but also to provide, paradoxically, for a wider range of penalties than before, hence the fact that some offenders have seen their penalties reduced.

At the same time, it is known that many magistrates were opposed to making sexual abuse coincide with rape, so it may be that some took the side of watering down their verdict.

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