Stealthing

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Stealthing (from English stealth = cunning, stealth , secrecy) is a form of abuse in which a sexual partner secretly removes his condom and without the consent of the other partner and then engages in sexual intercourse . The practice leads to the fact that no safer sex takes place and the transmission of diseases and possibly pregnancy becomes possible. In homosexual sex, men can also become victims of stealthing.

History and practice

Stealthing is the subject of numerous internet forums; according to journalist Gunda Windmüller it is a "trend". In relevant forums, male users would claim that removing the condom is their “right”; if a woman slept with a man, she had to "do it with all the consequences". In contrast, many women express the conviction that this practice disregards "not only the physical integrity , but also the sexual autonomy of the victims". The sexual criminal lawyer Joachim Renzikowski contradicted the claim that stealthing is a trend, it is more a criminal offense .

Alexandra Brodsky, a lawyer at Yale University , has described stealthing as a "serious violation of dignity and self-determination" and wants to create awareness for this type of sexual abuse with a study published in 2017 on the subject.

The allegations against Julian Assange in Sweden in August / September 2010 also revolved around stealthing.

Criminal law

Switzerland

In 2017, a man was sentenced to 12 months probation for stealthing for rape for the first time in Switzerland . The judges at the Lausanne Criminal Court considered it criminally relevant that the woman “was unable to resist” and that she “would have refused sexual intercourse if she had noticed that the man was no longer wearing a condom” he was convicted of desecration , with the same sentence.

In 2019, the Zurich Higher Court acquitted a man. Although the court considers “stealthing” to be fundamentally punishable and describes the man's actions as morally reprehensible, it moves in a loophole in the law. The court saw the offense of desecration as not fulfilled. The verdict goes back to an incident in autumn 2017. The then 19-year-old and the 18-year-old woman met on a dating platform. After the date, the two went to the woman's apartment, where they had consensual sex. However, the woman insisted that the man use a condom. The man initially agreed. However, during the act, he removed the condom without informing the woman. However, the exact course of events is controversial.

Germany

In 2020, the first supreme court decision regarding stealthing was made in Germany in a case in which the perpetrator penetrated the woman without a condom and ejaculated in her during consensual sexual intercourse, but contrary to the agreement. The Berlin Chamber Court ruled that it was a sexual assault under Section 177. A conviction for rape only failed because this offense had not been applied by the lower courts. In the criminal law literature for Germany, too, it is argued that stealthing is punishable under Section 177 Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2 No. 3 and Paragraph 6 StGB . According to another opinion, the perpetrator did not make himself liable to prosecution according to § 177 StGB, but because of (attempted) bodily harm and insult.

literature

  • Alexandra Brodsky: 'Rape-Adjacent': Imagining Legal Responses to Nonconsensual Condom Removal. Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 32 (2), April 2017. ( Abstract )
  • Felix Herzog: “Stealthing”: When men secretly remove the condom during sexual intercourse. A sexual offense? In: Stephan Barton, Ralf Eschelbach, Michael Hettinger , Eberhardt Kempf , Christoph Krehl & Franz Salditt (eds.), Festschrift for Thomas Fischer , C. H. Beck , Munich 2018, pp. 351–359.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Gunda Windmüller: This so-called "sex trend" is actually abuse. Welt.de
  2. ↑ If a man secretly removes the condom, it should be punishable on Jetzt.de , accessed on April 27, 2017
  3. ↑ Nora Burgard-Arp: Stealthing: "Position change, rubber off" Zeit Campus from January 12, 2018; Retrieved December 20, 218
  4. ↑ Abstract
  5. ↑ stern.de
  6. ↑ Sex without a condom - convicted of rape to 20min .ch, last accessed on January 7, 2018
  7. ↑ Stealthing: "Forum entries astonishingly gruesome and blunt". In: derstandard.at. June 14, 2017, Retrieved April 7, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Zurich stealthing case - man secretly strips off the condom: court acquits him In: Swiss radio and television from November 28, 2019
  9. ↑ “Stealthing”, the secret removal of the condom, is morally “bottom drawer”, but is currently not a criminal offense . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 28, 2019. 
  10. ↑ Verena Mayer: Secretly removing a condom is a sexual assault. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. Johannes Friedmann, August 13, 2020, accessed on August 13, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Superior court in Berlin for the first time decides on the criminal liability of so-called stealthing (secretly removing the condom during sexual intercourse) (PM 51/2020). August 13, 2020, accessed August 15, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Felix Herzog: "Stealthing": When men secretly remove the condom during sexual intercourse. A sexual offense? In: Stephan Barton, Ralf Eschelbach, Michael Hettinger , Eberhardt Kempf , Christoph Krehl & Franz Salditt (eds.), Festschrift for Thomas Fischer , C. H. Beck , Munich 2018, p. 356 f.
  13. ↑ Thomas Michael Hoffmann: On the problem area of ​​the differentiated consent (consent) of the victim in the area of ​​§ 177 StGB according to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2016 . In: NStZ . 2019, p. 16 .
  14. ^ Theo Ziegler in: BeckOK StGB, v. Heintschel-Heinegg 46th edition, as of May 1, 2020, § 177 Rn. 9a
  15. ↑ Kevin Franzke: On the criminal liability of the so-called "stealthing". In: Bonner Rechtsjournal - Edition 01/2019. Sandra Latzko, Lorenz Posch, Tanja Posch (Eds.), October 7, 2019, pp. 114–122 , accessed on October 14, 2019 .