Saturday, February 13, 2021

France May Set [Official] Age of Sexual Consent to 15

Amanda Arnold reported for New York Magazine's "The Cut" that "France Is Finally Setting an Age of Consent":

On Tuesday, the country announced that it would finally set the [official] age of sexual consent [...] at 15.

I inserted the word official, because France does have an [unofficial age of consent]. Arnold wrote:

While current law criminalizes sexual relations with a minor under the age of 15, these cases are typically prosecuted as an offense that carries lighter penalties. In order to bring more serious charges of rape, prosecutors have to prove that violence, force, surprise, or coercion were involved, even in cases where the victim was as young as 11 years old.

Psychologist Muriel Salmona related that the dark side of the allure of nymphets is problematic in Europe - especially in France:

“The figures on violence against children are bad for most of Europe,” psychologist Muriel Salmona told the BBC. “But in France there is a current that tolerates sexual violence against children.”

Arnold reported that, in 2018, there was an attempt at setting an [official] French age of consent, but it was (unsurprisingly) blocked by men's groups:

In March 2018, the country introduced a package of laws intended to combat the prevalence of misconduct, which included fines for sexual harassment and set the country’s age of consent to 15. However, following pressure from men’s groups, the age-of-consent law was scrapped after a government report concluded it would result in “an assumption of guilt.”

Lastly, in recents weeks, protests have erupted in France. The protests were prompted by a case involving "Julie" who between the ages of 13 and 15 periodically had "group sex" with French firefighters whom stated the the age-gap group sex was consensual:

Cries intensified further in recent weeks, as France’s highest court prepares to hear a high-profile case involving a woman who says she was repeatedly raped by 20 firefighters over a two-year period, when she was between the ages of 13 and 15. (The woman, who has been dubbed “Julie” by the French media, is now 25.) Three of the firemen said they did in fact have sex with Julie when she was a minor, two of whom admitted to having “group sex” while on duty, though they argue that relations were consensual. 

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