Il Nuovo Postiglione - France steps closer to defining rape as lack of consent

The vote comes several months after a court in Avignon found a French man guilty of drugging his wife so he and strangers could rape her.

The case drew renewed attention to the widespread crime of rape and the issue of consent.

The bill passed this week redefines all sexual assaults -- including rape -- as "any non-consensual act".

France's lower house of parliament approved a slightly different version of the bill in April.

Wednesday's vote is not the final legislative hurdle. A joint committee of senators and lower-house MPs is expected to draft a joint text prior to the final adoption of the law in both houses.

"Consent is not saying no," said Equality Minister Aurore Berge, but "saying yes, an explicit yes, freely, without constraint or ambiguity".

The vote is a "decisive step towards a genuine culture of consent", she added.

The bill passed by both chambers defines consent as "free and informed, specific, prior and revocable", adding that it "cannot be inferred from the victim's silence or lack of reaction alone".

France's current legal definition of rape defines it as "any act of sexual penetration... by violence, constraint, threat or surprise" but this bill would specify that there is "no consent" under these conditions.

While Wednesday's vote shows an emerging consensus, some lawmakers and activists have expressed concerns about the change.

Advocates say this will enable the law to better hold perpetrators accountable.

But opponents say they fear the change will lead investigators to focus excessively on the victim's behaviour.

Consent-based rape laws already exist in several European countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Q.Bernardi--INP