to be shocked that there is no 'age of consent' in France ?

[ConferencePear]

I read in a French newspaper this morning that they are planning to introduce one, possibly at 13.
I can't believe they haven't got one already and I'm equally shocked by the idea that it should be 13.

[sweetbitter]

Huh? I'm pretty sure the age of consent in France is 15.

[sweetbitter]

Yes, it's definitely 15 and has been for ages:

www.ageofconsent.net/world/france

Where did you hear there was no age of consent? Are you sure you weren't confused with another country?

[ConferencePear]

Tis is what I read

www.sudouest.fr/2017/11/13/acte-sexuel-a-partir-de-quel-age-un-enfant-est-il-consentant-3943271-4697.php

[doodle01]

Pretty sure the EU would have something to say about it - or aare we the only ones who follow EU orders.
Different ages sometimes apply for specific age groups ie consenting teenagers but would not include adults.

[sweetbitter]

I think the article is either poorly written or else there is a complexity to the terms they use that isn't immediately obvious. Because France definitely does have an age of consent...

I believe the point with the case they are referring to is that when an adult has sex with someone under the age of consent it isn't automatically classed as rape the way it would be in lots of other countries. It's a different crime 'sexual abuse of a minor'.

The 22 year old man who had sex with an 11 year old was acquitted from the charge of raping her as there was no evidence of coercion, threat or violence.

[LetsSplashMummy]

It's just semantics- we understand that statutory rape is a very specific type of rape, slightly different in nature, they simply have a different term for it without the word rape. They also have grey areas to do with the age gap of the people involved, so it isn't as black and white as the UK.

[BowlingShoes]

Pretty sure the EU would have something to say about it - or aare we the only ones who follow EU orders

Of course the EU doesn't make laws on age of consent. That has no bearing on the framework of the EU and is a matter for national law. As sweet and Let's point out, France's legal framework for sex with minors differs from the UK, as it will with most other countries.

[ConferencePear]

Thanks Sweetbitter for your explanation you obviously read French better than I do. I am still shocked, but slightly less so.

[SloeSloeQuickQuickGin]

Several countris have 'Romeo & Juliet' consent laws eg there is a sliding scale of age differential. This one for Texas is a good explantion:

www.theshapirolawfirm.com/News-and-Resources/Articles/Romeo-and-Juliet-Law-in-Texas.shtml

I would point out that certain places across the world, the age of consent (under R&J) is often as low as 12

Canada: In June 2006, the Canadian government proposed a bill to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16, while creating a close-in-age exemption for sex between 14-15 year olds and partners less than 5 years older, and keeping an existing close-in-age clause for sex between 12-13 year olds and partners less than 2 years older.[3] The initiative also maintains a temporary exception for already existing marriages of 14 and 15 year olds, but forbids new marriages like these in the future.

Australia:
Tasmania :It is an offence in Tasmania to have sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 17.[22] However, it is a defence if the younger person was aged 12 years or older and the older was not more than 3 years their senior or, if the younger person was of or above 15 years and the older was not more than 5 years their senior.
[23][24]
Victoria
It is an offence in Victoria to sexually penetrate a person under the age of 16.[25] However, it is a defence if the younger party was aged 12 years or older and the offender was not more than 2 years older than the younger person, or they were married

USA
Military exemption Rules for U.S. military
Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (10 U.S.C. § 920), to which essentially only members of the United States Armed Services and enemy prisoners of war are subject, defines the age of consent as sixteen years in subsection but allows an exemption for people who are married to minors 12–15 years old.

[SloeSloeQuickQuickGin]

Incidentally, of the developed world, Jan still maintans and age 14 age of consent, and that popular tourist destination, Mexico, 12 in most states.

[SloeSloeQuickQuickGin]

Jan - Japan

[blackteasplease]

I was also thinking it was just the terminology.

"Age of consent" is a very misleading expression. Sex with someone under 16 in UK is sexual activity with a child and an offence, but there's no suggestion that aged 13 -15 they can't consent.

Sex with a child under 13 is rape as they are deemed unable to consent. So actually "age of consent" is 13.

Don't know how the expression came to be used as it is!

[TonTonMacoute]

En France, aucune loi ne fixe cet âge minimum, à l’inverse d’autres pays européens.

This is stated clearly in the article, I translate this as

In France there is no law which determines a minimum age, unlike other European countries.

I would say that there has been up to now, a convention or belief that it is 15, but that this has never been enshrined in law. Now someone’s clever lawyer has found this out, and has challenged this in court to get his client off.

It could be that the reporter has got this wrong, but then why is the French Secretary of State for Equality calling for it to be introduced?

[Blueberry1]

@Doodle1 - age of consent varies across the EU and is decided by national governments. EU has nothing to do with it!

In fact EU has far less power than many people in this country think. Look at all the Brexiters complaining that the EU DIDN'T intervene in Catalonia when (a) it doesn't have the power to do so (national governments have to agree on action and then instruct EU to act) and (b) if it had intervened, the Brexiters would be complaining that the EU should not intervene in a sovereign state's domestic politics! Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

[sweetbitter]

I agree with blacktea, it's specifically about the word 'consent'.

It is definitely punishable by law to have sex with someone under 15 in France.

This article is a bit more illuminating (and in English:)

www.thelocal.fr/20171113/france-could-set-legal-age-of-sexual-consent-at-13-after-man-acquitted-of-raping-11-year-old