First ‘stealthing’ verdict handed down in the Netherlands
WBecause he had secretly removed a condom during intercourse, a man is in the Netherlands was given a suspended sentence on Tuesday. The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to coercion in a Rotterdam court after secretly removing the contraceptive, despite his partner’s prior declaration that she did not want to have unprotected sex. The man was sentenced to three months probation and a fine of EUR 1,000.
It is the first conviction in the Netherlands for so-called stealthing – removing a condom during sex without the partner’s consent. The man put his partner at risk of “catching sexually transmitted diseases and becoming pregnant unintentionally,” the court said in a statement.
The judges ruled that there was no rape because there was “an agreement between the suspect and the plaintiff regarding sexual penetration” and the coercion related only to the removal of the condom.
Similar court decisions had previously been made in other countries, including Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand. California became the first US state to ban stealthing in 2021.
