"Stealthing" officially criminalised in the ACT.
<p>Stealthing, the non-consensual removal of a condom during sex, entered the cultural lexicon relatively recently but damaging consequences for victims have been prevalent for years.</p>
<p>Canberra Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee introduced new legislation on Sunday to amend current consent provisions under the crimes act. The changes explicitly state that a person’s consent is negated if the other person intentionally misrepresents using a condom.</p>
<p>The legislation was passed unanimously – which in the current global climate for women’s safety is hugely welcomed fact.</p>
<p>The new legislation means that any “intentional fraudulent representation” about the use of a condom during sex will now be recognised as a crime.</p>
<p>Sparked by an ongoing stealthing case in the Victorian courts, Ms. Lee strove to secure the bill in order to avoid similar, drawn-out legal processes.</p>
<p>“We cannot wait for cases to come before the courts before stealthing is specifically outlawed”, she said.</p>
<p>“We need to act proactively and send a clear message to community that his behaviour in unacceptable, and crime.”</p>
<p>Lee acknowledges that having concrete laws regarding consent issues such a stealthing is a positive start, but that the issue runs deeper.</p>
<p>“There is a reluctance to talk about consent openly and frankly. This needs to change, with effort from all sectors – community organisations, policymakers, law makers, law enforcement, educators.”</p>
<p>Teach Us Consent, a platform lobbying for and providing holistic consent and sexual education created by Chanel Contos, shared anecdotal evidence of the physical and psychological impact of stealthing on victims.</p>
<p>One such experience submitted to Teach Us Consent stated: "He gave me HPV which has associated impacts leading me to be put through four years of specialist gynaecologist visits costing 100s of dollars and significantly impacting mentally, physically and emotionally.”</p>
<p>This anecdote is sadly not an anomaly.</p>
<p>A Monash University study of more than 2,000 people in 2018 found that, of those surveyed, one in three women who'd had sex with men had been stealthed.</p>
