France approves law that ends ‘sexual obligation’ between married people

Couple lying in bed Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels The French National Assembly unanimously approved a law that clarifies the absence of any obligation to maintain sexual relations between spouses, eliminating an ambiguity in the Civil Code. The proposal seeks to reinforce the principle of consent and prevent situations of rape within marriage. The text, which determines the end of “conjugal duty”, was approved on Wednesday (28) and still needs to be evaluated by the Senate. The authors of the proposal, deputies Marie-Charlotte Garin (Green Party) and Paul Christophe (Horizons, right-wing) hope that the project will be enacted by the end of the semester. Today, the French Civil Code provides for four duties of spouses during marriage: fidelity, maintenance, assistance and cohabitation. Although there is no reference to the obligation to have sexual relations, consolidated jurisprudence sometimes equates cohabitation with “sleeping together”, perpetuating the idea of ​​a supposed “conjugal duty”. In 2019, a man obtained a divorce alleging his wife’s sole fault — a criterion that is still relevant for determining the definitive breakdown of a civil marriage in France. He claimed that his wife had ceased having sexual relations with him for several years. The woman appealed to the Court of Cassation, without success, and the case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which condemned France for this issue in January 2025. READ ALSO: After husband obtains divorce due to lack of sex, French woman wins appeal made to human rights court “By allowing such an obligation to remain in our legislation, we collectively endorse a system of domination, a system of abuse by the husband over his wife,” said deputy Marie-Charlotte Garin. According to her, it is essential to make it clear that “marriage cannot be a bubble in which consent is acquired, definitive and lifelong”. See the videos that are trending on g1 Argument used for divorce The approved text reinforces that, according to the Civil Code, cohabitation does not create any obligation for the spouses to maintain sexual relations. I also add that it is impossible to base a divorce on the absence or refusal of sexual relations — an argument that still appears in some cases. Citing studies, deputy Paul Christophe also highlighted that one in four men in France considers it normal for a woman to have sex out of obligation, and not out of desire. “It is our duty to remind them that they are mistaken,” he emphasized. The objective is to “raise awareness among spouses about the issue of sexual violence during the wedding ceremony”, with the reading of fundamental rights by the civil registry office being an opportune moment for this educational effort, according to the authors. Left-wing parliamentarians tried, unsuccessfully, to remove the mention of fidelity from the article that lists the obligations arising from marriage, arguing that this concept could also be interpreted as an obligation of sexual relations between spouses. With AFP

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