No law in France mentions the notion of sexual majority. It is customary to deduce it from the texts of the Penal Code, which provides that a sexual act performed with a minor under the age of 15 is reprehensible. The man and the woman would thus be considered as sexually major from 15 years. What does this imply ?

Sexual majority offense: 5 years imprisonment and a € 75 fine

Article 227-25 of the Penal Code states that “The fact, by an adult, without violence, constraint, threat or surprise, sexual assault on the person of a minor of fifteen years is punished by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75 euros. ”

In practice, the penalties imposed may be lower, but the fact remains that sexual intercourse with a minor under 15 may lead to legal proceedings. It is deduced from this that the age of sexual majority is set at 15 years.

The law does not mention sexual intercourse between 2 minors

The Penal Code, by fixing the sexual majority at the age of 15, does not deal with consensual intercourse between a sexually minor individual and another minor. In the absence of any provision in this direction, the legal vacuum leads to think that the partner of less than 18 years – legal majority – can have a sexual relation without constraint with a minor of less than 15 years without fear of breaking the law. .

The law does not state the consent of the minor partner

By setting the age of sexual majority at 15, article 227-25 of the Penal Code does not distinguish consent from rape: regardless of the minor’s consent to the sexual act, his or her adult partner is penalized. 

The law in France distinguishes between sexual majority and the legal age of sexual consent of the minor. While it is forbidden to have sex with a man or a woman under the age of 15, sexual intercourse carried out against respect for the principle of sexual majority does not necessarily constitute rape.

This precision is important insofar as rape is more severely punished than the act consented to between an adult and a minor under 15 years of age: 15 years in prison – 20 years for rape of a minor – against 5 years and € 75. fine.

Sexual intercourse with a person who is not sexually of age does not constitute rape until the minor has been coerced into the act. But at what age is the minor able to give sexual consent? The law says nothing about it. Associations are fighting in this direction, and the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron has spoken of setting 15 years as the age of sexual consent, like the age of sexual majority. This would imply that under the age of 15, the minor would not be able to consent or refuse the report: he would automatically be considered as non-consenting and his partner automatically accused of rape of a minor.

This presumption of non-consent already exists in some neighboring countries: the age is set at 12 years in Spain and 14 years in Italy, for example. 

The age of 15 is deducted from the law to determine sexual majority in France. This notion of sexual majority prohibits having a sexual relationship with a minor under the age of 15, but is in no way linked to the notion of pornography. The legal age for accessing pornography is determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the degree of eroticism.

The sexual majority is also disconnected from the institution of marriage. A woman is authorized to marry from the age of 18 – a legal provision enacted in order to combat white marriage – that is to say 3 years older than the sexual majority.