In an exchange filmed on March 8 between the Choisir la cause des femmes association and Emmanuel Macron, the president said he wanted to enshrine consent in French law. Currently, this notion is not explicitly mentioned in the legal texts relating to rape cases.
Emmanuel Macron expressed his intention to include in French law the notion of consent in matters of rape, in a filmed exchange with the feminist association Choisir la cause des femmes seen by AFP on Wednesday March 13. “I am going to include it in French law” declared the Head of State when questioned on this question by Violaine Lucas, the president of the association founded by Gisèle Halimi, on March 8 on the sidelines of International Rights Day women.
“That we integrate it into French law, that consent can be registered, I completely understand that,” he added, in this exchange broadcast on Instagram of which AFP was able to see the entirety and was able to confirm the authenticity. When questioned, the Elysée did not wish to comment. Currently, article 222-23 of the penal code defines rape as “any act of sexual penetration, of whatever nature, or any oral-genital act committed on the person of another or on the person of the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
The notion of consent, which resurfaced in the 2010s with the #metoo shockwave, is not explicitly mentioned, and voices have been raised for several months to review this definition. “If he does it it’s good news,” Violaine Lucas responded to AFP. “This will allow us to deepen what Gisèle Halimi began to do in 1978 during the Aix-en-Provence trial”, in reference to the emblematic trial which contributed to having rape recognized by law as a crime.