France’s government has proposed setting a formal age of sexual consent at 15 years old after multiple high profile cases involving underage girls. Marlene Schiappa, France’s Equality Minister, said that the government has decided to set the age at 15 after taking into consideration both expert and civilian opinions. She said that a new law would be presented to the Council of Ministers on March 21.
Current laws in France criminalize sexual acts with children under the age of 15. However, prosecutors must prove that the sexual act was not consensual. In the United States, the law determines that children under 18 years of age are not mentally ready to give consent; therefore any sexual act performed with a minor is illegal regardless of whether or not the child gives consent. France is taking steps to enforce similar laws after two cases involving 11-year-old girls provoked outrage. Both perpetrators were acquitted of rape.
This November, a 30-year-old man was cleared of rape after the court found that the victim had not been forced. The court determined that the victim had not been subjected to “constraint, threat, violence or surprise,” according to Schiappa. Therefore, it was deemed consensual. In the other case, charges against a 28-year-old man, also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl, were downgraded to sexual relations with a minor.
Schiappa said that the French President wanted to set the age of consent at 15. In October of 2017, she claimed that she wanted to address rape culture. “We want to fix an age in the law below which it’s always forbidden to have sex with children, with young girls. Below which it’s always considered as a rape,” she said.
The law, once implemented, will set the age at which a person cannot agree to any sexual intercourse at 15 and will criminalize any sexual activity with any minor younger than that age.
