Sweden has passed a law to make sex illegal without explicit consent.
The historic vote marks a victory for campaigners who have worked to implement the legislation for more than a decade. ?
“Today’s vote marks a huge victory for women’s rights activists in Sweden who have been campaigning tirelessly for this change for more than a decade,” Anna Blus told Amnesty International.
“Most European countries still define rape based on physical force, threat or coercion, and these outdated definitions have caused immeasurable harm. While there is still a great distance to travel, we are hopeful that today’s decision will herald a Europe-wide shift in legislation and in attitudes,” she added.
This makes Sweden the tenth country in the world to legislate that sex without consent is rape.
Only nine other countries – or 7 if we count the U.K. as one jurisdiction – have such definitions of rape.
As it stands, The UK — including the courts of Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales — Belgium, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Iceland, Ireland and Germany define non-consensual sex as rape.
Feminists in the UK and Sweden alike have celebrated the news.
In Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, spousal rape is still legal.
In the heteronormative and corrosive legislation in the countries, husbands are entitled to have sex with wives regardless of whether or not they offer their consent.
This became illegal in the UK in 1992.
by Jasmine Andersson
Source – PinkNews
