⚠️ WHEN A LAW DOES MORE THAN CHANGE TEXT
Some laws tweak procedures.
Some laws adjust definitions.
And then some laws drag society out of the Middle Ages.
This week, France moved to abolish one of the most quietly dangerous ideas embedded in marriage:
that spouses — particularly wives — owe sex by default.
With a single, unambiguous clause, france has now said this out loud in law:
👉 Marriage does not create an obligation to have sex.
That sentence alone dismantles centuries of entitlement.
1️⃣ WHAT france JUST DID — IN PLAIN LANGUAGE
The French National assembly approved a bill that:
Explicitly states that “community of living” does not include sexual obligation
Makes refusal of sex invalid as grounds for fault-based divorce
Removes any remaining ambiguity judges could exploit
This is not symbolic language.
It is a legal firewall against coercion.
2️⃣ WHY THIS WAS NECESSARY — DESPITE MARITAL RAPE BEING ILLEGAL
france criminalised marital rape decades ago.
So why change the civil code now?
Because contradictions matter.
While criminal law said “no means no,”
Civil law quietly allowed judges to punish women for saying no.
That contradiction enabled abuse to survive inside legality.
3️⃣ THE 2019 CASE THAT EXPOSED THE ROT
In 2019, a French court ruled against a woman who had refused sex with her husband for years, granting him a fault-based divorce — effectively branding her guilty.
That ruling rested on a dangerous assumption:
marriage implies sexual availability.
The woman took her case to the European court of Human Rights, which condemned France last year for allowing such reasoning.
That judgment forced France’s hand.
4️⃣ THE LAW IS A CLARIFICATION — BUT A CRUCIAL ONE
Supporters openly admit this law may not dramatically change court outcomes.
But that misses the point.
This law:
Closes interpretive loopholes
Ends judicial improvisation
Removes sex from the list of marital “duties.”
In law, clarity is power.
5️⃣ WHY FEMINISTS CALL THIS A LINE IN THE SAND
The bill’s sponsor, Marie‑Charlotte Garin, put it bluntly:
Allowing conjugal duty to persist endorses domination and predation.
She’s right.
As long as “duty” exists, consent becomes negotiable.
And negotiable consent is not consent.
6️⃣ THE MAZAN CASE: WHEN ASSUMED CONSENT BECOMES HORROR
The 2024 Mazan trial still haunts France.
Gisèle Pelicot was drugged and raped repeatedly by men invited by her husband.
Several defendants claimed they believed she consented — because she was married.
That logic did not emerge in a vacuum.
It came from centuries of legal and cultural messaging.
7️⃣ france ALSO REDEFINED RAPE — AND THAT MATTERS HERE
Since November, france has defined rape as any sexual act without consent, not just violence or threat.
Consent must now be:
Informed
Specific
Prior
Revocable
Silence, freezing, or lack of resistance do not count.
marriage offers zero exemptions.
8️⃣ THE idea france JUST BURIED WAS NEVER IN LAW — BUT LIVED IN PRACTICE
“Conjugal duty” never appeared explicitly in French law.
Its roots lie in medieval church doctrine, smuggled into modern rulings through vague phrases like “community of living.”
This law finally kills that ghost.
🧨 FINAL VERDICT: THIS IS NOT ANTI-MARRIAGE — IT’S PRO-CONSENT
france has not weakened marriage.
It has modernised it.
By stating clearly that:
france has done what many societies still refuse to do — confront a truth that makes people uncomfortable:
👉 Love without consent is not intimacy.
👉 sex without consent is not marriage.
This law doesn’t end relationships.
It ends entitlement.
And that’s long overdue.
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