France to set legal age of consent at 15 after two men who had sex with 11yr old girls were acquitted of rape

A proposal put forward by the French government will set the age of sexual consent at 15 after the country was shocked at the acquittal of two men who had sex with 11yr old girls.

If passed into law, it will be the first of its kind in the country which currently has no rule saying a child under a certain age is considered incapable of consenting to sex.

The government’s women’s affairs office said that it has decided to set the threshold at 15 in a bill to be presented to parliament later this month.

Earlier, officials had discussed setting it at 13. President Emmanuel Macron, among others, argued for it to be older.

In two recent legal cases, adult men were accused of having sex with 11-year-old girls who were considered consenting under French law.