Throughout Europe, legislation on sexual crimes is going through remarkable reforms. Following the increasing attention to sexism and gender-based violence, notably in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the scope of transgressive behavior sanctioned by criminal law is widening. One such example is rape law: over the past four years, nine European countries have moved from coercion-based to consent-based rape law. Street harassment is another example: since the first European ban on street harassment was introduced in Brussels in 2014, similar laws and local ordinances have been introduced in various European countries, notably in France, Portugal, The Netherlands and Britain. Another recent extension of legislation on sexual crimes relates to online sexual crimes, enabled by technological change.
While these developments are taking place throughout Europe, notable differences exist when it comes to the details of legal reform as well as their framing of the underlying problem. These differences relate to differences in how gender-based violence has been politicized in each country, varying degrees to which the women’s movement was involved in these reforms, and the ideological orientation of the governments initiating reform. In the midst of these recent and ongoing reforms, urgent questions to be addressed are:
- What are recent and impending legal reforms of sexual gender-based violence in Europe?
- How do lawmakers frame the problem they are trying to address?
- What are the concrete effects of this legislative innovation in different European countries?
- What explains the emergence of new gender-based violence regulation in Europe?
- What explains similarities and differences in content, framing and effects of legal reform?
The primary objective of this workshop is to facilitate academic discussions regarding the recent developments in sexual violence legislation in Europe, from various disciplines such as sociology, political sciences, anthropology, and law. The workshop also includes a stakeholder meeting about the recent Dutch sexual violence law reform and related policies. It aims at sharing findings with practitioners, at the same time at gaining insights from them.
Program
| Thursday 13 June 2024 | |
| 12:00-13:20: | Welcome coffee & lunch |
| 13:20-15:00: | Workshopping of papers (1) (invite only) |
| 15:00-17:00: | Stakeholder meeting |
| 17:00-18:30: | Drinks |
| 18:30-21:00: | Workshop Dinner (invite only) |
| Friday 14 June 2024 | |
| 10:00-15:40: | Workshopping of papers (2) & lunch |
Participation
If you would like to participate in some parts of the workshop, please send a message to h.horii@law.leidenuniv.nl.
Organizers & Committee Members
Hoko Horii (VanVollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI), Leiden Law School, the Netherlands)
Annelien Bouland (Social Sciences Department, Universidad Carlos III Madrid)
Mischa Dekker (Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium)
Supported by
Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society
European Commission – HORIZON MSCA
Hoko Horii 