When Spain's top court acquited five men, known as the 'Wolf Pack,' of rape in Madrid in 2018 women demonstrated asking for changes to the law./Susana Vera/Reuters
Spain's cabinet has approved a draft bill that strengthens the country's laws against rape by requiring explicit consent for sex acts, a move long demanded by assault survivors and women's right groups.
The proposed law "makes clear that silence or passivity do not mean consent, or that not showing opposition can not be an excuse to act against the will of the other person," said government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero, who called it "a decisive step forward."
The measure comes in the wake of the notorious 2016 gang rape of an 18-year-old woman by five men at a bull-running festival in Pamplona, northern Spain. The men, who called themselves "the wolf pack," were initially convicted of sexual abuse instead of the more serious offence of sexual assault, which includes rape, since the court found no proof they had used physical violence. Two of the men filmed the assault, during which the women is silent and passive, which the judges interpreted as consent.
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The ruling brought to light that under Spain's existing criminal code, rape must involve violence and intimidation. Demonstrations across the country demanded reform.
Now known as the "only yes is yes" law, the bill will define rape as sex without clear consent. It also proposes jail penalties for work-related sexual harassment and makes catcalling – sexually harassing a stranger in the street – a criminal offence for the first time. The bill also qualifies forced marriage and genital mutilation as criminal offences and strengthens laws against pimping (controlling prostitutes and arranging clients for them).
Speaking about the new law, Equality Minister Irene Montero said: "This law puts consent at the center and that means only you decide about your body and sexuality. It frees you from having to show that you resisted, that there was violence or that you felt intimated."
A woman holds a sign reading 'Only Yes is Yes' as people gather at Plaza del Castillo square to protest against sexual assault in Pamplona, Spain. /AP/Alvaro Barrientos
The bill will now go to parliament for a debate and vote, most likely to be in September.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez heads a minority government but is expected to get together enough support from smaller regional parties to pass the bill.
"Let's make our country a freer and safer place for women" he tweeted after the cabinet approved the draft bill, which he said will protect women's "right to sexual freedom."
Only about a dozen European nations have changed their legal definition of rape as sex without consent, according to Amnesty International. That list includes Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Ireland. Spain's "only yes is yes" law echoes legislation that came into force in Sweden in 2018.