5/24/2018 Swedish Law Now Recognizes Sex Without Consent as Rape - The New York Times

Swedish Law Now Recognizes
Sex Without Consent as Rape
By Christina Anderson

May 23, 2018

STOCKHOLM — “Sex must be voluntary — if it is not, then it is illegal.”

This is the straightforward language of a new Swedish law set to change the way rape and other sexual crimes are prosecuted in
the country.

It is the first law in the country that acknowledges sex without explicit consent as rape, a move lawmakers say is “based on the
obvious.” With the passage of the law, Sweden became the 10th country in Western Europe to recognize nonconsensual sex as
rape.

On Wednesday, the Swedish Parliament passed the law requiring explicit consent — verbal or physical — from participants before
they engage in a sexual act. Under previous laws, prosecutors had to show that there had been violence, a threat of violence or the
exploitation of a victim in a vulnerable state to establish rape.

Beginning on July 1, when the new law comes into effect, a prosecutor will need simply show that explicit consent was never given.

While some argue that the law will be problematic to enforce, others say the legislation is more about changing the culture.

“These laws are normative — they are expressing what is acceptable in society or not,” said Katarina Bergehed of the Swedish
chapter of Amnesty International.

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Ms. Bergehed pointed to a law the country passed in 1979 against hitting children, which she said changed the way society sees
corporal punishment. “We are hoping for the same when it comes to this new consent‑based law,” she said.

In a country where the number of reported sexual offenses is on the rise, lawmakers hope the legislation will help change attitudes
and curtail sexual assaults.

“This is a modern legislation based on modern relationships,” said Sweden’s justice minister, Morgan Johansson. “It should sit in
the spines of every boy and man in Sweden that this is how it is. That you have to make sure that the one that you intend to have
sex with is a voluntary participant.”

According to Sweden’s annual national crime survey, the number of people reporting that they had been victims of sexual crimes
almost tripled from 2012, when it was 0.8 percent of the adult population, to 2016, when it was 2.4 percent. Most assaults go
unreported: Only 10 percent of those surveyed said they had told the police.

The government said in a statement that the new legislation would make it possible to convict more people of sexual abuse than it
is now. Lawmakers hope that will lead to an increase in reporting.

Last year, only 60 percent of those who sought medical care at the rape center at Sodersjukhuset Hospital in Stockholm filed a
police report, said Dr. Anna Moller, the head of the center. Dr. Moller supports the new legislation and said it reflected the reality of
rape.

“The expectation that there should be bruises and clear evidence of physical resistance is also something this legislation moves
away from,” she said. “So we think it’s natural that only active participation should be interpreted as a yes. Passivity cannot be
read as consent.”

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5/24/2018 Swedish Law Now Recognizes Sex Without Consent as Rape - The New York Times

Two new crimes — negligent rape and negligent sexual assault — have also been added to the criminal code, for instances when
one party goes ahead with a sexual act without consent and where it should be obvious to the offender that consent was not given.
The maximum penalty for negligent rape is four years.

The new legislation is not without its critics. The Swedish Bar Association is against the change.

“We have been very critical because it’s not going to lead to more convictions,” Anne Ramberg, secretary general of the Swedish
Bar Association said. “The new legislation has not lowered the burden of proof, since the prosecutor has to prove that a crime was
committed and they have to prove intent.”

The Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe convention, is the most comprehensive legal framework to tackle sexual violence
against women and girls and obliges signatories to ban all nonconsensual sexual acts. A majority of European states that have
signed on to the convention, however, have yet to amend their definitions of rape.

Among those that have, Iceland changed its law earlier this year. Other countries that have consent‑based legislation include
England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Belgium, and Germany. Finland and Denmark are also considering
similar proposals. Norway’s Parliament rejected similar changes to its own laws last month.

The biggest impact of the new Swedish law might be a change in the country’s mind‑set about what constitutes rape, but it could
also lead to more attackers being prosecuted, said Anna Blus, who monitors rape legislation in Europe for Amnesty International
in London.

“In an ideal world, this will lead to more prosecutions and fewer rapes,” said Ms. Blus. “This will take time and training.”

That time and training is key, experts say. A recent Europe‑wide survey on gender‑based violence revealed widespread victim
blaming and problematic views on consent. Nearly one‑third of respondents said they believed that sex without consent is
sometimes justified.

Part of the problem, Ms. Blus said, is that people still see rape as an attack carried out by a person who jumps out of the bushes
and leaves signs of physical violence on a victim. In reality, the majority of rapes occur within relationships or are so‑called date
rapes.

Elin Sundin, the director of Fatta (“Get It”), an organization that has promoted the passing of consent‑based legislation for years,
said the new law would change attitudes about sex. But she said education needed to be done for the police, in schools, in
workplaces and in the care sector.

“We need men to understand that if he is unsure, he should either ask or just not go there,” she said. “We have a saying in Sweden:
‘If she is lying still, it is not her will.’”

A version of this article appears in print on May 23, 2018, on Page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Swedish Law Says Sex Minus Consent Is Rape

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