Anxiety about safe sex tends to subside if your partner uses a condom, but what would happen if your partner went against this agreement in the middle of sex? After a French man chose to discreetly remove a condom during sex without his partner’s permission, he has been convicted of rape for the decision.
Broadly reports that Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court has marked the 47-year-old man’s actions as rape in a case the victim’s lawyer calls “a first in Switzerland.” When the pair began having sex after initially meeting through Tinder, the decision was consensual and involved a condom, but the French woman soon discovered that her partner had taken it off. According to The Independent, the court ruled that the man would receive a 12-month suspended sentence, meaning he may not actually serve any time for the crime.
The landmark case has been linked to the case against Julian Assange, who has also been accused of interfering with condoms during sex. UK law labeled Assange’s actions as rape.
While the decision to convict the man is monumental, such results rely on the people involved in interpreting each case.
“So much comes down to what kinds of myths or attitudes individual jurors have about women and sex and what constitutes rape and what isn’t rape,” Dr. Sinead Ring from the University of Kent told Broadly. “The law can do so much, but really it comes down to juries and getting them to make decisions that aren’t contaminated by rape myths.”
Although this case ended with rightful punishment for the man, similar situations may not end so smoothly. The verdict teaches us that there needs to be more education about safe sex and consent so that there is less judgment directed at victims in these scenarios.