«The bill approved in the Chamber and agreed by the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposes the modification of the law on the crime of sexual violence in implementation of international obligations (Istanbul Convention, CEDAW Committee and ECHR jurisprudence) which require that the crime of sexual violence is always foreseen when the consent of the offended person is lacking. An assent that must be free and current as already stated for over 10 years by the Court of Cassation in compliance with international principles”. The jurist Maria Teresa Manentehead of the legal office of the national network Differenza Donna, summarizes the new law approved unanimously in the House on November 19th and now under discussion in the Senate.
How is it possible to make consent recognisable?
«It must be expressed freely, it must be explicit and evaluated as the Istanbul Convention says and as the Court of Cassation has stated for years, in relation to the context in which it is provided (e.g. a battered woman who gives her approval to sexual intercourse is not expressing free consent, just like a woman who gives it knowing that the man is in possession of a gun). Bongiorno’s proposal is unacceptable because adding the adjective “recognizable” to consent means not taking into account the reasons and cultural causes underlying this type of violence: in fact, sexual violence has nothing to do with sexual intercourse but is an act of domination and exercise of power over a woman’s body which is used and canceled and therefore can never become the subject of misunderstanding or misunderstanding.”
So does adding the adjective “recognizable” to consent weaken the victim’s position?
«It once again places the responsibility for the act on the woman who will have to prove that she has expressed her consent clearly and reiterated even in situations in which she is paralyzed due to the fear of being killed or of retaliation or in cases in which she cannot express valid consent due to being drunk.
I challenge any man who wants to have sexual intercourse with a woman to affirm that he cannot perceive whether that woman is consenting or not, otherwise that man will be carrying out an act of power, canceling the will and freedom of the person in front of him. WE CAN’T TAKE STEPS BACK. Any sexual act performed without free and current consent is a crime of sexual violence.”
