Human sexuality is varied and diverse, and at present most of the population can enjoy it to a greater or lesser extent, and there are many possible ways of exercising it. However, in recent times, different sexual practices have appeared and become popular that pose a risk to the health of the subjects involved, and even some that are directly a sexual assault.

In this last group we find stealthing, a worrying practice of recent appearance .

What is stealthing?

Stealthing is a sexual practice in which one of the people involved in the relationship (usually a man) voluntarily removes the condom he was using in intercourse without his sexual partner knowing or consenting to an unprotected relationship. Both partners have consented to have sex with a condom, but one of them unilaterally decides to remove the condom during intercourse. In this way, the subject’s sexual freedom is being violated and he is being put at risk.

It should be noted that stealthing is a voluntary action on the part of the subject: accidents such as the condom breaking or coming off by accident during penetration are not considered as such. Nor is it such if the removal of the protection mechanism is something agreed upon by both parties.

This practice is more common in heterosexual couples , but also in same-sex couples. Subjects who carry out this practice often use changes of position or stops in the relationship to remove the condom. In some cases, it has been reported that the subject has removed the condom and then put it back on, with the victim not being aware of the event.

A high-risk practice

Stealthing implies a high risk for the person who suffers it , and even for the person who practices it voluntarily. The risk of pregnancy is increased, as well as the risk of infection with various sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, syphilis and gonorrhoea.

This dangerous practice is becoming particularly popular among the youngest people, despite its extreme danger, due to the transmission of information about it on social networks.

Why is it done?

Experts consider that this practice has its origin in groups that considered they had the right to expand their genes, even though their sexual partners did not know that they were at risk of becoming pregnant or infected by some disease .

Some of the subjects actively seek to cause a pregnancy. Other subjects carry out this practice to increase sexual pleasure. Another common reason is that the person takes it as a challenge that the couple does not notice the withdrawal of the condom, motivated by the risk of being discovered.

Legal Consideration: Stealthing as Sexual Assault

Even though the sexual relationship itself is accepted by both parties, the practice of stealthing involves a form of sexual abuse : the person has agreed to have relationships under certain conditions that the person performing the stealthing fails to meet. The victim of the abuse in question believes that he or she is in a protected relationship, which is withdrawn without his or her consent.

In short, it is a non-consensual sexual practice, which is punishable by law. According to the Spanish Criminal Code, a person who without consent performs acts that infringe on sexual freedom or indemnity will be considered responsible for sexual abuse, which stealthing does. Penalties may range from one to three years’ imprisonment or fines of between eighteen and twenty-four months. This is not only the case in our country. For example, in states like California has been incorporated into the definition of rape .

The need for prevention and awareness

In a large number of cases both those who practice it and those who suffer it do not come to consider that a crime is being committed or that their action is dangerous.

Many of the cases are not reported because some of the victims are unaware that it is a crime, or even because they consider that by having consented to sleep with the offender, the practice in question is also implicitly consented to.As far as the abuser is concerned, many do not consider themselves to be violating the law or carrying out an abuse, or they play down the importance of their act.

This issue must be worked on at a multidisciplinary level. In addition to working at a legal level, it is necessary to establish prevention strategies that can avoid this type of non-consensual practices, inform about their risks and seriousness and raise awareness among the population about them.