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French panel rejects ‘sex assistants’ for disabled

An ethics panel in France on Tuesday opposed the use of so-called sexual assistants for the disabled, an issue sparked by a true-to-life film recounting the experiences of a handicapped man.

French panel rejects 'sex assistants' for disabled
Actress Helen Hunt, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2013 for her role as a sex surrogate in 'The Sessions'. Photo: Disney ABC Television Group

The National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE), which advises the government on health issues, said it saw too great a risk of abuse to back "professional" use of sex helpers.

Several associations are lobbying for law changes so that people can legally offer sexual services for the handicapped, and even to have these services reimbursed by the welfare state.

Their campaign has been inspired by experiences in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and by a Hollywood film, "The Sessions," which portrays the sexual awakening of a 38-year-old paralysed man and his relationship with his sex therapist.

"The beneficiaries are vulnerable people who are at risk of an emotional investment in the sexual assistant," the CCNE said.

"It is not possible to give sexual assistance a professional status like other activities, given the principle that the human body cannot be used for commercial purposes." It recommended that carers be trained in the sexual needs and dignity of the disabled.

"This training must have a technical aspect, for example facilitating physical relationships between handicapped people or access to mechanical means of sexual satisfaction," the panel said.

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SEX

France taken to European Court over divorce ruling that woman had ‘marital duty’ to have sex with husband

A case has been brought against France at the European Court of Human Rights by a woman who lost a divorce case after judges ruled against her because she refused to have sex with her husband.

France taken to European Court over divorce ruling that woman had 'marital duty' to have sex with husband
Photo: Frederick Florin/AFP

The woman, who has not been named, has brought the case with the backing of two French feminist groups, arguing that the French court ruling contravened human rights legislation by “interference in private life” and “violation of physical integrity”.

It comes after a ruling in the Appeals Court in Versailles which pronounced a fault divorce in 2019 because of her refusal to have sex with her husband.

READ ALSO The divorce laws in France that foreigners need to be aware of

The court ruled that the facts of the case “established by the admission of the wife, constitute a serious and renewed violation of the duties and obligations of marriage making intolerable the maintenance of a shared life”.

Feminist groups Fondation des femmes (Women’s Foundation) and Collectif fĂ©ministe contre le viol (Feminist Collective against Rape) have backed her appeal, deploring the fact that French justice “continues to impose the marital duty” and “thus denying the right of women to consent or not to sexual relations”.

“Marriage is not and should not be a sexual servitude,” the joint statement says, pointing out that in 47 percent of the 94,000 recorded rapes and attempted rapes per year, the aggressor is the spouse or ex-spouse of the victim.

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