Spain approved a law on sexual freedom that raises a new definition of consent

The Spanish government on Tuesday approved the law on sexual freedom, known as the “law of one yes is yes”, which redefines what consent is for the first time criminalizes street harassment.

After the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Finance and spokesperson for the government, María Jesús Montero, stressed that the law represents “a decisive step forward in the integral protection of women and children” and that it “places the victim in the foreground. center of public action “.

Equality Minister Irene Montero, who did not show up after the Council of Ministers, explained through a video posted on social networks that “today is one of those days when politics is at stake. the height of the demands of society, and more precisely of the feminist demands, of women “.

The Equality Minister added that this law frees women from having to show that they have resisted, that there has been violence or that they have felt intimidated. “Any sexual intercourse without consent is assault“, he underlined.

Consent as a clear expression

The text does not define what is not consent, but what is: “When it has been freely expressed by acts which, taking into account the circumstances of the case, clearly express the person’s will“.

Rape will be any penetration without consent, without requiring violence or intimidation.

After the approval of the law in the Council of Ministers, the spokesperson, María Jesús Montero, declared: “If you don’t want to, you must not participate in any sexual act“.

The crime of street harassment will be punished with a permanent location or work for the benefit of the community.

Anyone who “addresses another person with expressions, behaviors or propositions of a sexual nature which is considered to be the author of a minor offense. create an objectively humiliating situation for the victim, hostile or intimidating, without constituting other more serious crimes ”.

Group assaults, an aggravating factor

In addition to updating the classification of sex crimes (with a progressive system proportional to the seriousness of the criminal acts and with aggravating factors such as group assault, serious violence, the particular vulnerability of the victim and the use of ‘weapons or dangerous means), the law covers several areas.

She considers as sexual violence aggression, harassment, exhibitionism, criminal or street harassment, sexual provocation, the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, the corruption of minors, female genital mutilation, marriage. forced, sexual feminicide and, in the digital sphere, technological-transmitted sexual violence, sexual extortion and non-consensual pornography.

Avoid re-victimization

Likewise, re-victimization is avoided by developing procedural measures to support victims, including the ability to avoid eye contact with the alleged abuser or to testify in special rooms.

The government also aspires to end impunity in the prostitution industry, and for this it will toughen the Penal Code to prosecute all types of pimping and punish those who profit from the rental of premises where sexual exploitation occurs, the third said rental.

After 16 months, the Executive gave the green light to legislation that expands the concept of violence against women beyond the reach of the partner and ex-partner, an initiative that widely claimed by the feminist movement.

With information from La Vanguardia and the ANSA agency