As rain fell over Rome’s Circus Maximus earlier this month, thousands of feminists, students and activists gathered for a protest they had hoped would not be necessary.
Just a few months earlier, they had been celebrating victory: in a rare display of cross-party unity, the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the opposition Democratic party leader, Elly Schlein, had agreed on new legislation to modernise Italy’s rape law, requiring explicit consent to engage in sex. It passed unanimously in parliament’s lower house in November, but before the Senate had a chance to vote it into law, the populist rightwing League party – part of Meloni’s governing coalition – withdrew support.
League politicians claimed the new rules would require lovers to bring a contract into the bedroom or fill in a form before sex. They have now rewritten the law, stripping out the word “consent” and replacing it with language that campaigners say shifts the burden back on to victims. The new, watered-down law is set to be debated next month, but the dispute has ignited one of the fiercest debates in years over gender violence in Italy.
‘This takes us back to a time when, if a woman accepted a lift, that she should expect rape’
‘This takes us back to a time when, if a woman accepted a lift, that she should expect rape’
At the protest, young and old demonstrators stood side by side under Rome’s ancient umbrella pines. Teenage girls with denim cut-offs and megaphones led classmates in social justice chants. A grey-haired woman carrying a “Disarm the patriarchy” banner was flanked by young men. A float decorated with the words of French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot – “Shame must change sides” – blasted Italian hip-hop through the drizzle.
Chiara Accolla, a council employee attending with her daughter, Eliana Plascidi, a graduate working in film, called the revised proposal “the worst possible” law.
“Italy is behind on gender-based violence,” she said. “It is only addressed when it peaks in a rape or a murder. Until there is real awareness, we will remain behind.”
Sheltering under a purple umbrella in lace tights and hotpants, Viola Mercurio, a trader and TikTokker, said the proposed law was “scandalous”. “If this law passes, the absence of a yes is no longer enough to define the crime,” she said.
Some protesters accused Meloni of failing to advance women’s rights despite benefiting politically from earlier feminist struggles. Critics point to opposition from the government to relationship and sex education programmes in schools, and broader debates over parental leave.
Under Italy’s criminal code, rape is defined by the presence of force rather than the absence of consent. Critics say the framework places the burden on victims to demonstrate resistance and has resulted in rulings blaming victims for not putting up sufficient opposition. Women’s rights groups have long argued that introducing an explicit consent standard would bring Italy in line with much of Europe.
The League has now introduced a redrafted law removing the word consent, focusing instead on the “unwillingness” of the woman. MP Laura Boldrini, chair of the lower house of parliament’s human rights committee, who put forward the consent bill, said the new proposal “takes us back to a time when, if a woman accepted a lift, she should expect rape”. The government has “betrayed” women, she said, “giving precedence to the unity of the coalition rather than a law that advances our development”.
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The word “unwillingness” has also worried activists. “If there is no consent, it is rape,” said Elisa Ercoli, president of the women’s rights organisation Differenza Donna. “If you speak of ‘unwillingness’, it is a different model based on dissent, which presumes the accessibility of women.”
Giulia Bongiorno, the League senator who drafted the revised bill, rejected claims that the law weakened protections. Bongiorno, a celebrated defence lawyer, said experts had raised serious concerns about the text approved by the lower house and she had attempted to work with opposition parties on a new compromise text. “Some objections to the law are based on completely groundless assumptions,” she said.
Bongiorno argued that her draft expanded protections, saying there was no reversal of the burden of proof, no explicit dissent was required and that a crime would exist whenever a woman was unable to express her will. “It places the woman’s will at the centre of the judge’s assessment but avoids vague language,” she said, adding that penalties had also been increased.
The government is doing “a lot” for women, she said, citing reducing taxes on labour, parental leave and incentives for hiring working mothers, as well as initiatives to speed up investigations and proceedings in gender-based violence cases. “There is still a serious cultural problem,” Bongiorno acknowledged.The debate over gender-based violence has been sharpened by high-profile cases involving the sons of prominent politicians. The murder of university student Giulia Cecchettin in 2023 triggered nationwide protests and renewed calls to strengthen sex education.
Italy has faced pressure to modernise its laws after the recent introduction of consent-based legislation in several European countries. The revised bill is now moving through the Senate, with lawmakers scheduled to debate and vote on the proposal on 8 April. As the bill approaches parliament, demonstrators have vowed to keep up the pressure.
As night fell and protesters drifted away from the Circus Maximus, banners calling to “Disarm the patriarchy” still fluttered in the rain, a reminder that the battle over a single word in the law has become a much larger argument about power and justice in modern Italy.
Photograph by Simona Granati - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images