At a demonstration on the occasion of International Women's Day, a participant carries a cloth bag with the inscription "Only yes means yes", March 8, 2025, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne, Germany. Photo Credit: picture alliance/Getty Images
Society EuropeNew Laws Highlight the Importance of Consent
More than 20 European countries have now adopted consent-based definitions of rape, marking a historic cultural and legal shift toward recognising only voluntary sexual acts as lawful.
“This is a moment of quiet revolution — Europe is redefining justice by centring human dignity and choice,” said Emma Varvaloucas, editor of What Could Go Right?
Since 2017, nations including France, Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have moved from coercion-based to consent-based laws, replacing outdated requirements of violence or threat with clear standards of mutual agreement. The “yes means yes” model, now spreading across the continent, ensures that silence or immobility can never be mistaken for consent, advancing gender equality and setting a new global benchmark for protecting personal autonomy.
