May 27, 2022
Spain’s sexual rights reform “broadly aims to help women and girls gain more freedom in their personal relationships and the ability to make decisions about their bodies.”
The gist:
The move to create the landmark sexual rights reform —came from the Spain’s Left-wing government who are calling it, the “feminist penal code”—and in response to “major feminist protests in 2018 after five men were acquitted of rape and convicted of a lesser charge of sexual assault.”
Now ‘catcalling,’ or, “propositions or behaviour [sic] of a sexual nature that cause ‘a situation of humiliation, hostility or intimidation,’” will be punished with fines and house arrest.
And while the Spanish Party to the Right claims: “opposed the legislation which they claimed reduces men’s right to the presumption of innocence and attacks traditional behaviour [sic] between the sexes;” the reform covers other critical areas for women, in a Country where there has been no legal definition of consent.”
The bill will “also reforms Spain’s controversial rape law so that any non-consensual penetration will now count as rape, regardless of whether violence or intimidation was used.”
“Rape cases in Spain will now rest on the existence of consent “manifested freely via acts that [...] express the person’s willingness in a clear way.”
The Stats:
- The reform includes a series of measures aimed at reducing rape culture, including a ban on the advertising of pornography and obligatory sex education in schools for all age groups.
- Women victims of sexual violence will also qualify for the social and economic assistance that was recently made available for victims of domestic abuse.
- A network of 24-hour crisis centres [sic] will be opened to offer victims of sexual violence psychological, legal and social support, once the reform has been passed by the upper-house Senate and becomes law.
Spain joins a handful of other countries, including France, Belgium and Canada, which have outlawed street harassment or catcalling.
Connect with the Telegraph article here.
Photo: Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket
