Because he had secretly removed a condom during sexual intercourse, a man in the Netherlands was sentenced to a suspended sentence on Tuesday. The 28-year-old had pleaded guilty to coercion before the court in Rotterdam after secretly removing the contraceptive, although his partner had previously declared that he did not want to have unprotected sex. The man was sentenced to three months in prison on probation and a fine of 1000 euros.
It is the first conviction for so-called stealthing – the removal of a condom during sexual intercourse without the consent of the partner – in the Netherlands. The man had exposed his partner to the risk of "becoming infected with 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 was the first US state to ban stealthing in 2021.