London —
European lawmakers have voted in favor of defining sex without active consent as rape, marking a historic step for women’s rights and survivors of sexual violence in the EU.
The European Parliament’s resolution, passed on Tuesday by an overwhelming margin, urges all EU member states to adopt an only “yes means yes” legal standard for consent while recognizing that a “yes” obtained through coercion is not valid.
The move seeks to replace the traditional “no means no” principle, which activists argue fails to protect victims by not requiring explicit, affirmative consent for sexual acts.
The resolution is the just the first step in the…