French lawmakers back bill to end 'marital duty'

"French lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill seeking to end "marital duty", after criticism from women's rights groups about its use to ignore sexual consent in marriage and marital rape. The text - backed by more than 120 MPs in the lower house National Assembly - clarifies in the civil code that cohabitation does not create any obligation for spouses to have sexual relations. The cross-party bill will now have to go through the Senate upper chamber."

"The French civil code lists four duties attached to marriage - fidelity, support, assistance and cohabitation - but it does not mention sexual obligation. However, older court rulings sometimes interpreted cohabitation as implying a "shared bed", allowing the idea of a "marital duty" to persist in practice. In 2019, a man obtained a divorce in France on the grounds that his wife had stopped having sex with him."

French lawmakers unanimously approved a bill to end the notion of "marital duty", clarifying that cohabitation creates no obligation for spouses to have sexual relations. The text, backed by more than 120 MPs in the National Assembly, must now pass the Senate. The French civil code lists four duties attached to marriage—fidelity, support, assistance and cohabitation—but does not mention a sexual obligation. Older court rulings sometimes interpreted cohabitation as implying a "shared bed", which allowed the idea of a marital duty to persist. A 2019 divorce was granted because a wife stopped having sex; Europe's top rights court later ruled refusal to have sex should not be considered fault. France adopted the principle of consent into the definition of rape last year.

Read at The Local France