Non-consensual condom removal explained

Non-consensual condom removal, or "stealthing",[1] is the practice of a person removing a condom during sexual intercourse without consent, when their sex partner has only consented to condom-protected sex.[2] [3] Purposefully damaging a condom before or during intercourse may also be referred to as stealthing,[4] regardless of who damaged the condom.

Victims are exposed to potential sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV/AIDS, or unwanted pregnancies.[5] Such behaviour may be therefore regarded as sexual assault or rape, and sometimes as a form of reproductive coercion.[6] As of 2020, stealthing is punishable as a form of sexual violence in some countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom.[5]

History and practice

In an article published in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Alexandra Brodsky described victims' experiences, legal implications, and legal avenues to address non-consensual condom removal. The term stealthing has been in use in the gay community to describe the criminal transmission of HIV [7]

Brodsky described how the practice of stealthing is discussed, described, and advocated for on various websites and forums. These forums are sometimes used to brag about committing stealthing and to share tips on how to do it.[8] How-to guides have been posted to social media platforms like Experience Project.[9] The practice has also been described as "a threat to [a victim's] bodily agency and as a dignitary harm", and men who do this "justify their actions as a natural male instinct". Columbia Law School professor Suzanne Goldberg says that the practice of stealthing is likely not new, but its promotion on the internet among men is new.[10] Belgian journalist Heleen Debruyne emphasised in 2017 that the media should not refer to stealthing as a 'new sex trend' as if it were a harmless fad, but make clear that it is a 'form of abuse'.[11]

Teitelman et al. (2011) found that condom negotiation is often silenced by male partners in adolescent relationships, partially due to the woman's fear of her partner's response, a feeling of obligation, and a lack of knowledge or skills in negotiating condom use. To prevent this, it is important that male partners are reached with the information as to why condoms are beneficial for them as well. Forums for this outreach could include community-wide interventions fostering discussion of healthy and unhealthy relationship practices and prevention programs for HIV/AIDS and STIs. Schools can provide a safe site for prevention interventions, but high-risk adolescents who are not in school must be reached through additional means, such as in community centers or detention centers.[12]

Statistics on the prevalence of stealthing are limited. However, a 2014 study by Kelly Cue Davis and colleagues reported that 9.0% of participants in their sample of young men reported having engaged in condom sabotage, which included non-consensual condom removal.[13] The National Sexual Assault Hotline reports receiving calls about stealthing.[4] A recent study from a Melbourne-based sexual health clinic asked women and men who have sex with men (MSM) attending the clinic whether they had experienced non-consensual condom removal, and analysed situational factors associated with the event. 32% of women and 19% of MSM reported having been a victim of non-consensual condom removal. Female victims of non-consensual condom removal were more likely to be a current sex worker and MSM who had experienced non-consensual condom removal were more likely to report anxiety or depression. Both female and male participants who had experienced it were three times less likely to consider it to be sexual assault than participants who had not experienced it.[14] Two other studies were recently published with U.S. samples. One study found that almost 10% of young male non-problem drinkers reported having engaged in nonconsensual condom removal since the age of 14. Men who had engaged in this behavior reported higher rates of STI diagnoses and partners with unplanned pregnancies than men who had not engaged in nonconsensual condom removal.[15] In another study of young adult women, 12% reported that they had experienced nonconsensual condom removal by a male partner, while none of the participants reported engaging in nonconsensual condom removal themselves.[16]

Brianna Chesser and April Zahra (2019) stated in Current Issues in Criminal Justice: "While the majority of complainant accounts indicate that this crime is perpetrated by men, it is also possible for a female to 'stealth' her partner and remove the condom without her partner's consent. It follows that both men and women can both be victims and perpetrators of stealthing."[2] A 2013 article in The Week speculated: "Both men and women can be perpetrators of birth control sabotage. In fact, women have often been stereotyped as purposefully trying to get pregnant against their partner's desires as a way to 'trap' a man. But the issues of reproductive coercion and birth control sabotage have recently gained more attention because of a Canadian case [''[[R v Hutchinson]]], in which a man poked holes in a pack of condoms so his girlfriend would get pregnant and stay with him."[17]

Legal issues

In her review, Brodsky called for non-consensual condom removal to be legally considered as a kind of sexual assault, but also reviewed the difficulties in doing so: In all legal areas, breaking an agreement usually is not considered a crime, and that misrepresenting one's true intentions does not make a sexual act illegal. Thus, the most successful argument for making non-consensual condom removal punishable would be the inherent pregnancy and infection risk of unprotected intercourse.[18]

Court verdicts and laws by country

See also: Sexual consent in law and Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority.

Australia

In May 2017, an Australian court case was underway regarding stealthing.[19] The president of the Law Society of New South Wales has described stealthing as sexual assault because it changes the terms of consent.[20] [6]

Canada

A 2014 Supreme Court of Canada ruling (R v. Hutchinson) upheld a sexual assault conviction of a man who poked holes in his condom. Eight years later, the same court ruled that people who don't wear a condom despite being asked to by a sexual partner may also be convicted of sexual assault.[29]

Germany

In 2018, a man was found guilty of sexual assault in Germany's first conviction for stealthing.[30] In a 2022 German case, a woman was sentenced for sexual assault after she intentionally rendered the condoms defective (through perforation) in order to get pregnant by a man who did not seek a committed, serious relationship.[31]

The Netherlands

In March 2023, a 28-year-old man in The Netherlands was convicted of coercion for secretly removing his condom despite his victim explicitly stating she would not have intercourse without one. The man could not be convicted for rape, because the law in The Netherlands does not cover penetration without a condom while there was consent for penetration in itself.The man was sentenced to three years of probation and to pay a €1000 fine.[32] [33]

New Zealand

In April 2021, a man in New Zealand was convicted of rape for performing stealthing during a consensual act with a sex worker (the event took place in 2018). The man was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.[34]

Switzerland

In 2017, a court in Lausanne convicted a man for rape for removing a condom during sex against the expectations of the woman he was having sex with,[35] [36] but in another case in 2019, the cantonal supreme court of Zürich disagreed. It held that such conduct was not illegal, albeit with regret.[37] In May 2022, the Federal Supreme Court decided that stealthing was not punishable as German: Schändung (sexual act with a person incapable of proper judgment or resistance, Article 191 of the penal code) because the victim was still capable of defending herself. The incapability to do so is a necessary requirement to punish an act under Article 191. Not knowing about the state of the condom only impinges the decision to initiate defensive action, but does not diminish the victim's ability to defend herself, as the court noted. As the previous instances did not try the two men for sexual harassment (Article 198), the Federal Court did not determine whether stealthing would constitute sexual harassment.[38]

United Kingdom

In the UK, although no specific legislation has been enacted, there has been one conviction and thus case law has established that non consensual condom removal is rape.[39] [40] [41]

United States

Outside of California, Maine, and Washington, laws in the United States do not specifically cover stealthing, and as of 2017, there were no known legal cases about it.[42]

Impact and risks

Removing or damaging a condom during sex increases the risks of unintended pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Victims may feel betrayal and many victims see it as a "grave violation of dignity and autonomy". Many may also experience emotional and psychological distress, especially those who have experienced sexual violence in the past.

Alcohol

A history of sexual aggression and alcohol intoxication are factors associated with an increased risk of men employing non-consensual condom removal and engaging in sexually aggressive behavior with female partners.[50] [51]

In popular culture

The Law and Order SVU Episode Bang is about a wealthy man who secretly pokes holes in his condoms before sleeping with the various women he has sex with and impregnates 43 women as a result.[52]

The phrase "rape-adjacent" appears in Michaela Coel's 2020 television miniseries I May Destroy You, which includes a scene depicting non-consensual condom removal. In episode five, Arabella (played by Coel) publicly describes how Zain (played by Karan Gill) removed a condom during sex without her consent or knowledge and identifies him as rapist under U.K. law: "not rape-adjacent or a bit rapey, he's a rapist under U.K. law."[53] [54] She goes on to distinguish U.K. law from that of the United States and Australia, explaining "if you're in the States, he's rape-adjacent and if you're in Australia, he's a bit rapey."[55]

Notes and References

  1. News: Inside The Online Community Of Men Who Preach Removing Condoms Without Consent. Hatch. Jenavieve. 21 April 2017. Huffington Post. 23 April 2017.
  2. Chesser . Brianna . Zahra . April . 22 May 2019 . Stealthing: a criminal offence? . . . 31 . 2 . 217–235 . 10.1080/10345329.2019.1604474 . 182850828 . 18 February 2021.
  3. Brodsky. Alexandra . 'Rape-Adjacent': Imagining Legal Responses to Nonconsensual Condom Removal . Columbia Journal of Gender and Law . 32 . 2 . 2017 . 2954726 .
  4. News: Some call it 'stealthing,' others call it sexual assault. Michael . Nedelman . 27 April 2017 . CNN.
  5. News: 'He Secretly Took the Condom Off' – People Talk About the Times They Were 'Stealthed' . Alexandra Stanic & Rose Donohoe . Vice . 10 February 2020 . 17 February 2021.
  6. News: One in three women victim to 'stealth' condom removal . Melissa Cunningham . The Age . 3 June 2019 . 18 February 2021.
  7. Klein. Hugh. 22 October 2014. Generationing, Stealthing, and Gift Giving: The Intentional Transmission of HIV by HIV-Positive Men to their HIV-Negative Sex Partners. Health Psychology Research. 2. 3. 1582. 10.4081/hpr.2014.1582. 2420-8124. 4768590. 26973945. free.
  8. News: Eric . Glasser . Should it be a crime to remove a condom during sex? . WTSP . St. Petersburg, Florida . 25 April 2017 .
  9. Web site: 'I felt like I had been raped': Stealth removal of condom during sex raises legal, ethical concerns. Mullin. Malone. 3 May 2017. CBC.
  10. News: Kalhan . Rosenblatt . What is 'stealthing'?: Disturbing sexual practice detailed in new report. NBC News . 29 April 2017 .
  11. News: 'Stealthing' is géén nieuwe sekstrend. Het is een vorm van misbruik . Heleen Debruyne . . 19 August 2017 . 18 February 2021 . nl.
  12. Teitelman . Anne M. . Tennille . Julie . Bohinski . Julia M. . Jemmott . Loretta S. . Jemmott . John B. 3rd . 2011 . Unwanted unprotected sex: Condom coercion by male partners and self-silencing of condom negotiation among adolescent girls. . Advances in Nursing Science . 34 . 3 . 243–259 . 10.1097/ANS.0b013e31822723a3 . 21822072 . 33741565 . 6 May 2018.
  13. Davis. Kelly Cue. Stappenbeck. Cynthia A.. Norris. Jeanette. George. William H.. Jacques-Tiura. Angela J.. Schraufnagel. Trevor J.. Kajumulo. Kelly F.. 1 May 2014. Young Men's Condom Use Resistance Tactics: A Latent Profile Analysis. The Journal of Sex Research. 51. 4. 454–465. 10.1080/00224499.2013.776660. 0022-4499. 23548069. 3723757.
  14. Bradshaw. Catriona S.. Read. Tim R. H.. Chow. Eric P. F.. Cornelisse. Vincent J.. Fairley. Christopher K.. Vodstrcil. Lenka A.. Latimer. Rosie L.. 2018-12-26. Non-consensual condom removal, reported by patients at a sexual health clinic in Melbourne, Australia. PLOS ONE. 13. 12. e0209779. 10.1371/journal.pone.0209779. 30586420. 6306234. 2018PLoSO..1309779L. 1932-6203. free.
  15. Davis. Kelly Cue. 2019-07-01. "Stealthing": Factors associated with young men's nonconsensual condom removal.. Health Psychology. 38. 11. 997–1000. 10.1037/hea0000779. 31259595. 6800753. 1930-7810. free.
  16. Davis. Kelly Cue. Stappenbeck. Cynthia A.. Masters. N. Tatiana. George. William H.. May 2019. Young Women's Experiences with Coercive and Noncoercive Condom Use Resistance: Examination of an Understudied Sexual Risk Behavior. Women's Health Issues. 29. 3. 231–237. 10.1016/j.whi.2019.01.005. 30826133. 6578870.
  17. News: Why sabotaging condoms should be illegal . Emily Shire . The Week . 18 December 2013 . 18 February 2021.
  18. Brodsky. Alexandra . 'Rape-Adjacent': Imagining Legal Responses to Nonconsensual Condom Removal . Columbia Journal of Gender and Law . 32 . 2 . 2017 . 2954726 .
  19. News: McVeigh. Sarah. Could this be Australia's first stealthing court case?. 21 May 2017. triple j. 19 May 2017.
  20. News: "Is this rape?" The legal grey-area around prosecuting 'stealthing' in Australia. 21 May 2017. triple j. 2 May 2017.
  21. News: peachy92. Flickr. 2021-10-07. Consent law overhaul: ACT criminalises 'stealthing' in Australian first. en-AU. ABC News. 2021-10-08.
  22. News: Touma . Rafqa . 'Stealthing is rape': the Australian push to criminalise the removal of a condom during sex without consent . . 30 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210430201753/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/01/stealthing-is-the-australian-push-to-criminalise-the-removal-of-a-condom-during-sex-without-consent . 30 April 2021 . en . live.
  23. News: Frost . Harry . Stealthing, reportedly committed against 1 in 3 women, may become a crime in the ACT . . 24 April 2021 . en-AU.
  24. https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/bills/justice-legislation-amendment-sexual-offences-and-other-matters-bill-2022 Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022
  25. https://www.elle.com.au/news/stealthing-australia-laws-27453 Australia Is (Finally) Turning The Tide On Stealthing Laws—Here's What That Means
  26. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2022-06-21/australia-tasmania-outlaws-stealthing-adds-new-strangulation-offense-to-criminal-code/ Australia: Tasmania Outlaws Stealthing, Adds New Strangulation Offense to Criminal Code
  27. https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-items/stealthing-criminalised-under-law-reforms Stealthing criminalised under law reforms
  28. https://7news.com.au/news/queensland-passes-laws-criminalising-coercive-control-stealthing-c-13849559 Queensland passes laws criminalising coercive control, stealthing
  29. News: Raycraft . Richard . 2022-07-29 . Supreme Court rules not wearing condom against partner's wishes could lead to sexual assault conviction . CBC .
  30. News: Police officer found guilty of condom 'stealthing' in landmark trial. 20 December 2018. CNN. 18 February 2019.
  31. Web site: Germany: Woman sentenced for poking holes in partner's condoms . 2022-05-05 . 2022-05-06 . . Sinico . Sean .
  32. News: Stealthing zaak: geen sprake van verkrachting, wel van dwang. 14 March 2023. Rechtspraak. 14 March 2023.
  33. News: Man gets probation in NL's first ever stealthing conviction; 2nd suspect acquitted. 14 March 2023. NL Times. 14 March 2023.
  34. Web site: Chesser . Brianna . New Zealand's first successful 'stealthing' prosecution leads the way for law changes in Australia and elsewhere . . https://web.archive.org/web/20210428030618/https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-first-successful-stealthing-prosecution-leads-the-way-for-law-changes-in-australia-and-elsewhere-159323 . 28 April 2021 . en . 28 April 2021 . live.
  35. News: Man convicted of rape for taking off condom during sex. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/man-convicted-rape-condom-sex-switzerland-a7521891.html . 21 June 2022 . subscription . live. 11 January 2017. The Independent. 23 April 2017.
  36. News: Is removing a condom without permission rape?. Williams. Zoe. 16 January 2017. The Guardian. 24 April 2017. 0261-3077.
  37. News: Felber . Tom . "Stealthing", das heimliche Abziehen des Kondoms, ist moralisch "unterste Schublade", aber derzeit nicht strafbar . 28 November 2019 . . 28 November 2019 . de.
  38. Web site: "Stealthing" fällt nicht unter den Tatbestand der "Schändung" . 2022-06-09 . 2022-06-09 . Swiss Federal Court . de. The press release refers to the two separate cases 6B_34/2020 and 6B_265/2020.
  39. News: Man Convicted of Rape After Removing Condom During Sex Without Consent. Broadly. 23 April 2017.
  40. Web site: A British Man Has Been Convicted of Rape After Removing a Condom During Sex. 25 April 2019 . 22 August 2021.
  41. Web site: CPS Legal Guidance. Crown Prosecution Service. www.cps.gov.uk. 24 April 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170509180545/http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/rape_and_sexual_offences/consent/#a07#a07. 9 May 2017. dead. dmy-all.
  42. News: Laura . Kelly . Law paper condemns 'stealthing' assailants removing condoms during intercourse without consent . The Washington Times . 30 April 2017 .
  43. News: California could become first state to make it illegal to remove a condom without consent . Paulina Firozi . The Washington Post . 10 February 2021 . 14 February 2021.
  44. News: Paz. Isabella Grullón. 2021-09-10. California Moves to Outlaw 'Stealthing,' or Removing Condom Without Consent. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-09-10. 0362-4331.
  45. News: Hernandez. Joe. 2021-10-07. California is the first state to ban 'stealthing,' nonconsensual condom removal. en. NPR. 2021-10-08.
  46. https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1683&snum=131 An Act to Provide for Civil Recovery Based on Nonconsensual Removal of or Tampering with a Condom and Considering Sexual Assault in Evaluating Parental Rights
  47. Web site: WA House Bill 1958 looks to address 'stealthing' during sexual activity . 15 January 2024 .
  48. Web site: Slauson . Tyler . These new Washington laws go into effect July 1 . FOX13 News . June 19, 2024 . June 20, 2024.
  49. https://komonews.com/news/local/new-stealthing-law-goes-into-effect-in-washington-state-sexual-assault-victims-house-bill-1958-tampering-or-removing-sexually-protective-devices-without-consent-civil-suit-perpetrator
  50. Davis . KC . Danube . CL . Neilson . EC . Stappenbeck . CA . Norris . J . George . WH . Kajumulo . KF . Distal and Proximal Influences on Men's Intentions to Resist Condoms: Alcohol, Sexual Aggression History, Impulsivity, and Social-Cognitive Factors. . AIDS and Behavior . January 2016 . 20 Suppl 1 . 1 . S147-57 . 10.1007/s10461-015-1132-9 . 26156881. 4706816 .
  51. Davis . KC . The influence of alcohol expectancies and intoxication on men's aggressive unprotected sexual intentions. . Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology . October 2010 . 18 . 5 . 418–28 . 10.1037/a0020510 . 20939645. 3000798 .
  52. Web site: SVU: John Stamos gets killed with an explosive knife . 12 July 2023 .
  53. Web site: Castillo. Monica. 2020-07-06. I May Destroy You Recap: Mic Drop. 2020-07-13. Vulture. en-us.
  54. St. Félix. Doreen. Michaela Coel's Chaos and Charisma in "I May Destroy You". 2020-07-13. The New Yorker. en-us.
  55. Episode 5, I May Destroy You (June 22, 2020). BBC/HBO.

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