Spanish parliament approves ‘only yes means yes’ consent bill

Spain’s parliament has approved a bill that makes consent a key determinant in sexual assault cases, freeing survivors of having to prove that violence or intimidation was used against them.

The bill, popularly known as “Only yes means yes”, seeks to tackle the nebulous definition of consent in Spanish law. In the absence of a codified definition, the law had long relied on evidence of violence, resistance or intimidation to decide whether a criminal sexual act occurred.

The new bill defines consent as an explicit expression of a person’s will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not equal consent. Non-consensual sex can be considered aggression and subject to prison terms of up to 15 years.

The change was welcomed by the minister for equality, Irene Montero. “From today, Spain is a freer, safer country for all women,” she told parliament. “We are going to swap violence for freedom, we are going to swap fear for desire.”

The bill had long been championed by the Spain’s leftwing coalition government, with only the conservative Popular party and the far-right Vox party voting against it. The draft will now face a vote in the Senate before it can become law.

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The draft bill includes other measures such as obliging minors who commit sexual crimes to undergo sex education, gender equality training, and creating a network of 24-hour crisis centres for survivors of sexual assault and their family members.

The legislation traces its roots to the furore caused by a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.

Initially, the five accused in the case were found guilty of sexual abuse but not rape, as the victim wasn’t deemed to have objected to what was happening. The sentences prompted widespread protests and calls for Spain to join the dozen other countries in Europe that define rape as sex without consent, according to a 2020 analysis by Amnesty International.