California Legislature Passes Bill Aiming to Make Nonconsensual Condom Removal or ‘Stealthing’ Illegal

California legislatures have sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom that would make nonconsensual condom removal during sex, commonly referred to as “stealthing,” illegal under the state’s civil battery definition.

The bill, which was introduced by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) this past February, originally aimed to make stealthing a criminal offense, but after making its way through the California legislature, the bill now proposes to make the act a civil offense. In other words, the bill would allow a victim of stealthing to sue their offender for both emotional and physical damages in a civil case if the bill is signed into law.

In 2017, legislative analysts believed that stealthing could constitute a misdemeanor sexual battery, but proving the act of stealthing occurred in the courtroom would have been particularly difficult. Analysts have said this bill would dispel any obscurity in civil law.

Wisconsin and New York legislatures have also floated the idea to make stealthing illegal, but California is the first state in which such a bill will most likely materialize.

Stealthing is the act of removing a condom without permission during intercourse. https://t.co/1d7PzAr3NG

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) September 8, 2021

In 2019, a study found that of women aged 21-30, 12 percent had reported a partner removing a condom in a secretive and nonconsensual fashion. Of men in the same age group, 10 percent admitted to stealthing their partner. The study also found that men who scored higher in sexual aggression and hostility towards women were more likely to engage in nonconsensual condom removal.

An even newer study discovered that nearly 33 percent of participants had reported their partner’s non-consensual removal of a condom during intercourse according to a report from the California legislature.

The Erotic Service Providers Legal Educational Project has shown support of the bill, as the law would allow sex workers to sue clients who remove condoms in a non-consensual fashion.

The legislature also addressed the issue of spousal rape as California is one of 11 states that hold spousal rape and non-spousal rape to different standards. The bill would make spousal rape the same as non-spousal rape as it removes the exemption differentiating between the two. After passing in the legislature 36-0, the bill will be voted on for a final time in the assembly on Friday.