On October 29, 2025, France’s Senate delivered a resounding message: the era of ambiguity around sexual consent in the country’s laws is over. In a historic move, senators voted 327-0, with 15 abstentions, to adopt a bill that redefines rape and sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act. This legislative leap, following years of activism and public debate, firmly anchors the principle of consent in the heart of the French penal code and aligns France with a growing list of European nations taking similar steps.
The new law stipulates that consent must be “freely given, informed, specific, prior and revocable”—a definition that cannot be inferred from silence or a lack of reaction. The text is explicit: “There is no consent if the sexual act is committed through violence, coercion, threat or surprise, whatever their nature.” Gone are the days when French law defined rape solely as penetration or oral sex involving violence, coercion, threat, or surprise. Now, any non-consensual act constitutes sexual assault, a change welcomed by advocates and survivors alike.
This legislative overhaul comes in the wake of the harrowing case of Gisèle Pelicot, whose ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was convicted in December 2024 of drugging her and inviting dozens of men to rape her between 2011 and 2020. The trial, which resulted in Dominique Pelicot receiving a 20-year prison sentence and 50 other men being convicted with sentences ranging from three to fifteen years, shocked the nation and ignited a reckoning over France’s treatment of sexual violence. One man who appealed his conviction received an even harsher 10-year sentence. Gisèle Pelicot, now a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, became a catalyst for the new law’s momentum.
Centrist lawmaker Véronique Riotton, who co-sponsored the bill alongside Green lawmaker Marie-Charlotte Garin, described the reform as a move “from a culture of rape to a culture of consent.” After the bill cleared the lower house last week, Riotton emphasized, “It’s time to take action and take a new step forward in the fight against sexual violence.” Garin echoed the importance of clarity, stating, “When it’s not no, it doesn’t mean yes. When it’s yes, it must be a real yes… giving in will never again be consent.”
Advocacy groups have hailed the reform as a crucial milestone, but they also stress that the journey is far from over. Lola Schulmann, Gender Justice Advocacy Officer at Amnesty International France, called the law’s adoption “a historic step forward” and “a long-awaited victory for victims of rape and the culmination of years of tireless campaigning by activists, feminist organizations and survivors of sexual violence.” Schulmann added, “Amending the penal code will have a broad educational impact, which is essential for establishing a culture of consent in our society and in the training of those involved in the legal system.” However, she cautioned, “The adoption of the law will be crucial to change attitudes about rape but it is not a silver bullet. A true paradigm shift will require substantial financial resources and a truly intersectional perspective in its implementation to put an end to impunity for gender-based and sexual violence.”
The women’s rights organization CIDFF has echoed calls for the reform to be underpinned by improved sex education, specialized training for police and judicial officials, and increased resources for support groups. As CIDFF put it, legal change must be matched by societal transformation if the promise of the new law is to be realized. The hope is that these initiatives will help prevent and combat sexual violence, and improve access to justice for victims.
France’s move places it alongside sixteen European Union member states—among them Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden—that have already introduced consent-based definitions of rape. Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom also have similar legal standards, many of them shaped by the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. According to Amnesty International France, these changes are part of a broader European trend toward recognizing non-consensual sex as rape, and ensuring legal definitions reflect international human rights standards.
Yet the journey to consensus was not without opposition. In the National Assembly, France’s lower house, the bill passed overwhelmingly but faced resistance from far-right lawmakers. Their argument? The new definition of consent was “subjective, shifting and difficult to grasp.” National Rally lawmaker Sophie Blanc warned the change would “put the focus on the victim’s actions, not the violence of the perpetrator.” Still, the majority of lawmakers, spanning the political spectrum, supported the reform, seeing it as a much-needed corrective to outdated legal notions and a step toward ending impunity for sexual violence.
The legislation’s passage is more than a legal milestone—it’s a cultural statement. For years, activists have argued that France’s approach to sexual violence was hampered by a legal framework that failed to recognize the nuances of consent. The Pelicot case, with its chilling details of online chatrooms, pornography, and a culture that blurred the lines of consent, forced a national reckoning. As Deutsche Welle reported, the trial exposed how “men’s disdain for, or hazy understanding of, consent is fueling rape culture.”
France has made other recent efforts to address sexual violence, including setting 15 as the age of consent. But this new law, which will become official upon publication, is seen as a turning point. By enshrining a clear, robust definition of consent, lawmakers hope to foster an environment where victims are believed, perpetrators are held accountable, and the broader culture shifts toward respect and equality.
As France joins its neighbors in redefining rape through the lens of consent, the challenge now lies in implementation. Advocacy groups are clear: laws alone cannot end sexual violence. It will take education, training, resources, and a willingness to confront deep-seated attitudes. For survivors like Gisèle Pelicot, the law is a vindication—and a promise that their voices have helped change the course of French history.
The new law stands as a testament to years of activism, the courage of survivors, and a society’s determination to move from silence to justice. The hope, shared by many, is that this is just the beginning of France’s transformation into a true culture of consent.
