Italy’s parliament votes to broaden the definition of rape to include non-consensual sex, in a rare collaboration between the ruling and opposition parties.
ROME: Italian MPs voted to broaden the definition of sexual violence to include non-consensual acts.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party voted together with opposition leader Elly Schlein’s centre-left Democratic Party in the lower house of parliament.
The proposal updates the penal code to make it easier to prosecute rape by removing the requirement for victims to show physical signs of abuse.
Rape is currently defined as being committed with physical coercion, threats or abuse of authority.
The law does not change the penalty, which remains a prison sentence of between six and 12 years.
To become law the proposal must now go to a vote in the Senate, where it is expected to pass.
Democratic Party MP Laura Boldrini, who put forward the proposal, said it was needed because in Italy “the prejudice persists that holds women responsible for sexual violence against women”.
Broadening the definition would give “centrality to women’s will in the sexual sphere, to this day still culturally considered subordinate” to what men want, she said.
It would also shift the focus in trial to the perpetrator’s conduct rather than determining whether the victim did enough to defend herself.
The amendment follows several controversial rulings in rape cases in recent years which have sparked national outrage.
In one recent case, an Ancona appeals court overturned the acquittal of a man accused of raping a teenager.
He was initially found not guilty on the grounds that the victim should have anticipated she might be assaulted because she was not a virgin.
