Age of Consent in France [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

[AngryAttackKittens]

WTF? Did other people know about this? How has this possibly been allowed to continue until 2018?

France does not have a legal age under which a minor cannot agree to a sexual relationship – although the country’s top court has ruled that children aged five and under cannot consent. Lawyers for the suspect argued that the girl was consenting and aware of what she was doing, while lawyers for the girl have said she was simply too young and confused to resist.

So six year olds can legally consent, then? Because they're so much more developmentally advanced than 5 year olds?

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/french-girl-11-not-a-child-say-lawyers-for-man-29-accused-of-sexual-abuse

If there is exploitation or a power balance involved the age of consent is technically 18.

I'm still stuck on how they came up with 5 as the "definitely rape" age, given that that's nowhere near puberty.

“She was 11 years and 10 months old, so nearly 12 years old,” the defence lawyer Marc Goudarzian said Tuesday. “It changes the story. So she is not a child.”

I strongly disagree.

His colleague Sandrine Parise-Heideiger went further, saying: “We are not dealing with a sexual predator on a poor little faultless goose.”

I strongly disagree.

She said as soon as children have “sexual expressiveness and you have an attitude of putting yourself in danger” then “it doesn’t necessarily mean the person on the other side is a sexual predator”.

I strongly disagree.

Yes, Angry, I can see how you can argue that there is a difference between a 13 year old "consenting" and being raped, rightly or wrongly. However I can't see how a 6 year old could be said to consent in any meaningful way, being purely unemotive about it.

I mean don't get me wrong, it's a grotesque argument in either case, but setting the age so low strips away any pretense that you could maybe if you squint and pretend that rape culture, predatory adults, and grooming don't exist be talking about an adolescent who has some interest in sex.

I've been wondering how Macron will handle this kind of issue of consent.

His teacher had a sexual relationship with him when he was a minor.
But he cannot condemn this situation.
Because he is now married to her.

It isn't specifically about the age of consent, but it does compromise his ability to unequivocally condemn an adult having sex with a minor, and it certainly compromises his ability to declare that children can NOT consent in this situation.

www.independent.co.uk/news/emmanuel-macron-parents-how-discovered-affair-drama-teacher-brigitte-trogneux-dating-french-a7724201.html

It may well also compromise his ability to understand what the problem is, depending on how he's rationalized his own situation.

Every day's a new day.

Bloody hell. (Haven't yet read the link only posts on the thread)

Probably going off topic to this case but...

I wonder if it would make more sense if there was an age gap limit with consent, say for example 5 years max between that was legal until after 16/18 as for example a 20 year old boy with an almost 16 year old girl... I'm not sure predator is quite the right word when it would be fine for a 22 year old to be with a 17 year old and raise no eyebrows

But fuck France a 6 year old could consent??? How???

"BBC article, what's the point of having an official age of consent if having sex with someone under it is...what? Kind of a crime but not really?"

Well, that what exists here, isn't it? Age of consent 16 (18 in some cases) but strict liability for under 13 and varying degrees inbetween (such as age of both).

I doubt very much it would be set as low as 5. As the age of consent is a type are lowere there than here, them similar for age under which it's strict liability, so perhaps 12 or 13?