{"id":223216,"date":"2025-01-24T16:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T16:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/she-was-faulted-in-her-divorce-for-refusing-sex-a-european-court-disagreed\/"},"modified":"2025-01-24T16:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T16:52:14","slug":"she-was-faulted-in-her-divorce-for-refusing-sex-a-european-court-disagreed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/she-was-faulted-in-her-divorce-for-refusing-sex-a-european-court-disagreed\/","title":{"rendered":"She Was Faulted in Her Divorce for Refusing Sex. A European Court Disagreed."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/24\/multimedia\/24xp-france-cmth\/24xp-france-cmth-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"She Was Faulted in Her Divorce for Refusing Sex. A European Court Disagreed.\" title=\"She Was Faulted in Her Divorce for Refusing Sex. A European Court Disagreed.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The couple had been together for some three decades before they divorced. She blamed his work for taking a toll on their marriage. But in 2019, a French court ruled that she was solely to blame for the split, after she refused to have sex with him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Europe\u2019s top human rights court on Thursday condemned that ruling, saying that the French court\u2019s decision had violated the woman\u2019s right to private life and autonomy, which included her sexual life. The decision was seen as a milestone by women\u2019s rights activists who have long raised concerns about France\u2019s marital laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The 2019 decision by the Versailles Court of Appeals said that the woman, identified only as H.W. in court documents, was at fault in the divorce after stopping \u201cintimate relations\u201d with her husband. Her refusal for years to be intimate with her husband, that court said, was a \u201cserious and repeated violation\u201d of her marital duties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the European Court of Human Rights, saying that governments had an obligation to combat domestic and sexual violence, ruled on Thursday that \u201cthe very existence of such a marital obligation is contrary both to sexual freedom and to the right to control one\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It added: \u201cThe court cannot accept, as the government suggests, that consent to marriage implies consent to future sexual relations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was a symbolic victory for the woman, who had argued that she should not have been found at fault in the divorce. Women\u2019s rights groups called the decision a fundamental step to address sexual violence and other forms of abuse against women in relationships.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI hope this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women\u2019s rights in France,\u201d H.W. said in a statement through her lawyer, Delphine Zoughebi. \u201cThis victory is for all women who, like me, find themselves confronted with aberrant and unjust judicial decisions that call into question their bodily integrity and their right to privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">H.W. and J.C., as her husband was named in documents, who lived together outside Paris, married in 1984 and had four children together, the judgment said. The woman initiated divorce proceedings in 2012, claiming that her husband\u2019s focus on his career had affected their family life, and that he had been \u201cirritable, violent and hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her husband had argued in French court that she was to blame because she had breached her marital duties by refusing sexual intimacy, and had also slandered him with her accusations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The woman testified that she had refused to have sex because of health problems, including a serious accident and a slipped disk. The French court found in his favor. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The French government, defending itself at the European court, had argued that the question of whether marital duty was breached was a matter for domestic courts, and pointed out that French law punished sexual assault between spouses. A spokeswoman for Diego Colas, an official who represented the French government in court, declined to comment but referred to a brief response on Thursday from G\u00e9rald Darmanin, France\u2019s justice minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cObviously we will go in the direction of history and we will adapt our law,\u201d Mr. Darmanin <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfmtv.com\/societe\/tout-comprendre-divorce-pour-manquement-au-devoir-conjugal-pourquoi-la-france-a-ete-condamnee-par-la-cedh_AD-202501240463.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told reporters<\/a>. He said he would encourage lawmakers to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both parties have three months to refer the case to the European court\u2019s Grand Chamber, which can consider the case for a final judgment. Once final, a committee of government representatives for the court\u2019s member states supervise its enforcement. The European court does not have an enforcement mechanism, but its rulings can prompt countries to re-examine their laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Conversations around mutual consent, rape culture and sexual violence have swept France in recent months, driven by the harrowing case in which 51 men were <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/france-rape-trial-pelicot.html\" title=\"\">convicted of sexually violating Gis\u00e8le Pelicot<\/a>. Mrs. Pelicot\u2019s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, admitted to drugging and raping her for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to join him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lilia Mhissen, another lawyer representing H.W., said the ruling should stop French courts from interpreting the law in a way that would force women to have sex with their partners. She called it \u201ca major development for women\u2019s right to control their own bodies, including within marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Women\u2019s Foundation, a French women\u2019s rights group, said that the ruling had brought France \u201cface to face with its responsibilities.\u201d It called on the government to review its judicial practices, adding that feminist groups had warned that the notion of \u201cmarital duty\u201d was a form of control and sexual violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMarriage cannot and must never be equated with sexual servitude,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/24\/world\/europe\/france-woman-divorce-europe-court.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The couple had been together for some three decades before they divorced. She blamed his work for taking a toll on their marriage. But in 2019, a French court ruled that she was solely to blame for the split, after she refused to have sex with him. Europe\u2019s top human rights court on Thursday condemned [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/24\/multimedia\/24xp-france-cmth\/24xp-france-cmth-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1625,175511,8898,896,10890,175510,9403,165768,18686,19563,175508,5150,175509],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223218,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223216\/revisions\/223218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}