Californians will be able to sue partners who remove condom without consent

Californians may be able to immediately sue a sexual partner who removes a condom during sex without verbal consent-an act known as “stealthing.”

State legislature voted to fix without opposition on Tuesday CaliforniaCitizen’s definition of sexual assault, including’cause[ing] Contact between an intimate part of a person and another genital that the person removed the condom without verbal consent.

But that doesn’t change the criminal law. Instead, it will amend the Civil Code so that victims can sue the perpetrators for damages, including punitive damages.

The amended bill was then sent to Governor Gavin Newsom to veto or sign the law.

Democrat Cristina Garcia, who drafted the amendment on Tuesday, has been pushing the bill since 2017. Her original bill criminalized stealthing and imposed up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $ 10,000.

“I’m sick of having an online community that defends and encourages stealthing and gives advice on how to avoid removing condoms without the consent of our partners,” Garcia said in a statement.

“There is no law to clarify that this is a crime,” Garcia said in a statement.

Legislative analysts say stealthing can already be considered a misdemeanor sexual assault, even if it is not specifically mentioned in criminal law. However, analysts said they were rarely prosecuted simply because it was difficult to prove that the criminal acted intentionally rather than accidentally.

According to Garcia, the practice puts the victim at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, which can cause long-term physical and psychological harm to the victim.

Analysts this year said Garcia’s bill would disambiguate civil law.

Lawmakers in New York and Wisconsin have proposed relevant legislation, but California will be the first to outlaw that practice.

A 2018 Australian survey found that one in five respondents to a clinic in Melbourne was a victim of this practice. This is 32% of 2883 women and 19% of 3439 men. The country moved to criminalize the practice in April of this year.

Also in April, a New Zealand court convicted Wellington’s rapist for removing a condom without the consent of a sex worker and sentenced him to more than three years in prison. New Zealand Herald..

Removing a condom without agreement may already be considered sexual assault under the unmodified wording of Article 1708.5 of the California Civil Code.

However, the new amendment will remove the ambiguity surrounding the practice and unknowingly reveal its existence.

Garcia’s bill, backed by an erotic service provider’s legal education and research project, states that sex workers can sue clients who have removed condoms during agreed-based sex.

Lawmakers in New York and Wisconsin have proposed relevant legislation, but California will be the first to outlaw that practice.

In 2017, Yale University Studies He said stealthing for both women and gay men is on the rise. Data and accounts were provided primarily using online bulletin boards.

The study, written by Alexandra Brodsky for the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, says that “victims … don’t know what to call harm, and US courts say that practice. I didn’t have the opportunity to work on it and give it a name. “

“Their story often begins in the same way:” I don’t know if this is rape … “

Studies have found that “stealthing” is “a common practice among young, sexually active people.”

“I’ve never been so despised in my life,” said one respondent, who may have been infected with HIV three weeks ago when he believed he had unknowingly removed a condom. Said.

“I think he deliberately removed it. After he offended him for a week, he admitted,” I might have known that it broke. “

“I agreed to f *** him with a condom instead of without it,” the study interviewee said frankly.

According to Brodsky’s research, many victims are hesitant to tackle the problem rather than take legal action because of the “gray areas” involved in stealthing.

Despite the apparent and very disturbing nature of these scenarios, Brodsky states that criminal cases, including stealthing, can be very difficult to prosecute.

‘Most of […] The form of skepticism seen by a judge approaching a rape victim […] Victims of sexual assault are more likely to participate in stealthing cases, “she wrote.

In her summary, Brodsky proposed a law that criminalized the practice.

The amended bill was sent to Governor Gavin Newsom to veto or sign the law.

Also on Tuesday, the state legislature moved to treat spouse rape in the same way as non-spouse rape. If the victim is married to the perpetrator, the bill removes the rape law exemption.

California is one of 11 states that distinguishes spouse rape from other forms of sexual assault. Proponents of the bill said the distinction remained from the days when women were expected to obey their husbands.

Those convicted of spouse rape may now be subject to probation on behalf of prisons and prisons, but the maximum penalties are no different.

A person convicted of spouse rape must be registered as a sex offender only if the act involves the use of coercion or violence and the spouse is sentenced to state prison. ..

The bill was passed 36-0 and will return to Congress for a final vote before lawmakers postpone it to that year on Friday.