Italy to define non-consensual sex as rape

Italy is modernising its penal code to make it easier to prosecute sexual assault, in a rare case of bipartisanship between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition and opposition lawmakers.

Meloni’s rightwing Brothers of Italy party is expected to vote together with the leftwing Democratic opposition in the lower house on Wednesday to broaden the definition of sexual violence to non-consensual acts.

Under the current penal code, rape is defined as an act committed with violence, threats or abuse of authority. Critics say these criteria dissuade victims to come forward for fear they will not be believed if they cannot show physical signs of abuse or prove they tried to resist the assault.

“It’s very clear that sex without consent is rape,” said Laura Boldrini, a Democratic MP who has been pushing for this change. “We have had some rulings that were really shocking because there was no consent principle in our legal system.” 

Proponents say the reform will shift the focus of criminal prosecutions from questions about the behaviour of victims to that of perpetrators. In 2022, a man was acquitted of raping a woman in a bathroom, as the judge ruled that her failure to close the door fully was “an invitation” to the man. A year later, Italy’s top court overturned the acquittal and ordered a retrial. 

Currently, if victims froze, were terrified or not in a position to resist the assault, they are not believed, Boldrini said. “During trials, men’s lawyers try to question the woman: how did you react? Did you say no? Did you push him back?” 

Carolina Varchi, a Brothers of Italy lawmaker who steered the bill through the justice committee, has called the law a “historic step” that would make it clear that any sexual act “without free, aware and current consent is a crime”. 

Meloni has made no direct comment on the change, which must still be approved by the senate before it becomes law.

Azzurra Rinaldi, a feminist economist and author, compared the legal change to a “revolution” in a society where blaming rape victims was still common, though she said it would have to be followed by wider social changes. 

“It’s an important step to introduce the idea of consent in Italian culture. Then you have to pass it from law to the everyday lives of people,” she said. 

The legal reform comes as Italy has been rocked in recent years by horrific murders carried out by jealous ex-partners, and allegations of sexual assault committed by prominent individuals. 

In September Ciro Grillo, the 24-year-old son of comedian Beppe Grillo — founder of the populist Five Star Movement — and several of the young man’s friends were convicted of gang rape, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, for assaulting a teenage model at Grillo’s villa in 2019. 

Alberto Genovese, a prominent Italian entrepreneur was arrested in 2020 after an 18-year-old accused him of drugging her then sexually abusing her for hours at his penthouse apartment overlooking the Duomo in central Milan. He was convicted of sexual assault and drug trafficking and is the subject of a recent Netflix documentary.

Though rape cases are believed to be significantly under-reported, the number of victims filing complaints of sexual violence rose from 4,257 in 2014 to 6,231 in 2023, according to the most recent data from Istat, Italy’s official statistics agency. 

Italy’s laws on sexual assault have been gradually tightened over the past decades. In 1981, Rome scrapped provisions that had allowed men to escape punishment for rape if they married their victim. In 1996 rape was redefined as a crime against individual victims, rather than against the social order.

But not everyone backs the changes.

“Many people don’t like this concept of consent very much because they are afraid it will take away the romance,” said Alessia Dulbecco, author of the book It’s Always Been Done This Way, on gender education.