Why criminalising sex without consent must be the next step for all of Europe

Across the EU, women continue to experience sexual violence that is invisible in law. Many perpetrators evade justice because, in several Member States rape is still defined through a narrow lens of force, injury or physical resistance. There, women who have been coerced into sex, manipulated, too frightened to resist, or been so shocked that they didn’t physically fight, have little or no protection. As countries update national legislation to implement the new Directive on Violence Against Women, they face a crucial choice. Do they treat sexual violence as a crime of non-consent? Or do they...