France is set to legally end the so-called “marital rights” – the notion that marriage implies an obligation to engage in sexual relations.
A bill approved on Wednesday by the National Assembly adds a clause to the country’s civil code clarifying that “cohabitation does not create an obligation to have sexual relations.”
The proposed law also prevents the absence of sexual activity from being used as a basis for a fault-based divorce, reported the BBC.
Although the change is unlikely to have a major impact on courts, supporters hope the law will help prevent marital rape.
“By allowing such a right or duty to continue, we collectively approve a system of domination and expropriation by the husband over the wife,” said Green Party MP Marie-Charlotte Garin, the bill’s sponsor.
“Marriage cannot be a bubble where consent to sexual relations is considered final and lifelong.”
The law removes a long-standing ambiguity, despite there being no explicit mention of a “marital duty” in any legal text.
Currently, the French civil code defines marital duties as “respect, fidelity, support, and assistance” and states that couples commit to a “shared life.” Nowhere in the texts are sexual “rights” mentioned. The concept originates from medieval church law.
However, judges in modern divorce cases have occasionally interpreted “shared life” broadly to include sexual relations.
In a famous 2019 case, a woman had withheld sex from her husband for several years, and he was granted a fault-based divorce implying her “blame.”
The woman later took her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which last year ruled against France for allowing refusal of sex as a ground for a fault-based divorce.
This ruling was hailed as a major step forward by feminist activists.
In practice, the ECHR decision has made it impossible for French divorce judges to issue similar rulings. The new law primarily serves as clarification, although it is unlikely to have a major impact on courts.
For activists, the notion that women have a “duty” to consent to sex with their husbands remains present in parts of society and must be challenged.
The 2024 Mazani trial – where Gisèle Pelicot was repeatedly raped by men invited by her husband while incapacitated – is seen as emblematic. Some defendants claimed they assumed her consent based on what her husband had told them.
In France, as in most other countries, marital rape is now legally prohibited. Before 1990, men could argue that marriage implied consent.
Since last November, the legal definition of rape in France has been expanded to include the notion of non-consent. Previously, rape was defined as a sexual act committed with “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.” It now includes any act where there is no “informed, specific, prior, and revocable” consent. Silence or lack of resistance does not imply consent, according to the law.
