California wants to make it illegal to remove condoms without consent

California (United States) could soon become the first American state to make illegal the stealthing, removing the condom without the partner’s knowledge during sex. Members of the local parliament voted on a text to this effect, which is now in the hands of Governor Gavin Newsom, reports the New York Times.

If validated by the latter, the law would include this practice in the legal category of “sexual assault”. It would also amend the California Civil Code so that victims of stealthing can sue the person they accuse and claim damages from them. Even found guilty, the perpetrators could nevertheless not be sentenced to prison terms.

The California State Legislature approved a measure that would make it the first state to outlaw stealthing, the act of removing a condom during sex without consent. https://t.co/vNVkjHrmMo

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 10, 2021

“Stealthing is not only immoral but also illegal”

The bill “makes it clear that the stealthing […] is not only immoral but also illegal ”, welcomed the local California parliamentarian Cristina Garcia, at the origin of the text. A study published in 2018 showed that around the world, one in three women and one in five men had experienced unprotected sex without their consent. The following year, another scientific article claimed that 12% of women between the ages of 21 and 30 had been victims of the practice.

Cristina Garcia highlighted the psychological and physical disorders developed over the long term by the people concerned. Until then, individuals filing a complaint for an act of stealthing rarely saw their attacker appear in court. It has often proved difficult to prove that the respondents had acted intentionally. Laws prohibiting this practice had already been proposed in the past in the states of New York and Wisconsin. However, they had not been adopted.