Denmark Toughens Rape Law to Include Sex Without Consent
Rights groups and assault survivors welcomed the change, saying it was long overdue in a country that prides itself on gender equality.
An International Women’s Day rally in Copenhagen in 2017.Credit.Nikolai Linares/Scanpix Denmark, via Agence France-Presse Getty Images
Dec. 17, 2020
Denmark toughened its rape law on Thursday by criminalizing sex without explicit consent, a long-awaited victory for assault survivors and human rights groups.
In order to bring a rape charge, the law previously required proof of violence, threat or evidence that the victim was unable to fend off the assault. But the new legislation broadens the definition.
Denmark defines rape as sex without explicit consent
17 Dec 2020
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Fast News
Danish law would specify that sexual consent must be given voluntarily and as an expression of an individual’s free will through words or action. File Photo: A woman stops to photograph a mural showing pictures of underwear with the slogan Not Asking For It in a street in Dublin on November 17, 2018 as a protest after a defence lawyer showed a 17-year-old girl s thong or G-string in court as alleged proof of her consent in a rape case. (Paul Faith / AFP)
Denmark has strengthened its rape
laws by criminalising sex without explicit consent.