California has prohibited the non-consensual removal of condoms during sex.
Gatekeepers News reports that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that prohibits “stealthing,” or removing a condom during sex without consent, making it a civil sexual battery offence.
The bill on Thursday becomes the first anti-stealthing law in the country.
The bill passed the Senate and the Assembly a month ago without opposition, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.
“I have been working on the issue of ‘stealthing’ since 2017 and I am elated that there is now some accountability for those who perpetrate the act. Sexual assaults, especially those on women of color, are perpetually swept under the rug,” Garcia said in a statement when the bill passed.
She cited a study by Yale University that called stealthing “a grave violation of dignity and autonomy” and said cases affecting women and gay men were on the rise.
