On July 7, 2026, an ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner alleged that he would often take his condoms off without her consent. According to her, whenever she confronted him, he would just try to act cute and brush it off with, “Oh, sneaky me.”
But this wasn’t the first red flag. Before this allegation became public knowledge, Platner had already been accused of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Graham Platner was asked to withdraw right away after this news, which eliminated any chance he had of winning the election. This article isn’t really about Graham Platner—it’s about you, what the law says about protecting women, and everything you should know about consent.
Why So Many Women Don’t Realise It’s Against the Law
Stealthing is when a person takes off a condom without the other person’s consent, even after they have agreed to have sex.
Initially, it was not even considered a punishable offense. The conversation started around 2017 after researcher Alexandra Brosky published a paper on the subject. She demonstrated that stealthing is a violation of a partner’s consent that leaves them emotionally and physically abused.
Motivated by this new finding, Assemblymember Garcia introduced her very first bill banning stealthing in California later on in 2017. The bill received much opposition and did not pass at all. But Garcia did not give up, and in October 2021, California became the first U.S. state to pass a bill against stealthing. The lawmakers decided not to make stealthing a criminal charge that would lead to conviction but considered it “sexual battery” under the civil code. With this approach, a victim was only allowed to sue their abuser for damages.
The One Case That Changed How Courts Think About Consent
A man named Craig Hutchinson had intentionally made holes in his condoms to get his partner pregnant against her will. She found out only after she got pregnant. When she took the case to court, the Supreme Court of Canada at the time had to decide on whether or not consenting to having sex with a condom automatically meant also giving consent to having unprotected sex if you were not informed about it.
After much deliberation, the court finally ruled in 2014 that Hutchinson’s partner had given consent to only protected sex, but his devious act had exposed her to the risk of pregnancy. While this case was about condom sabotage and not complete removal, the core principle that courts have used up to this day when considering cases involving condom removal is that consent is not absolute.
A woman could agree to one sexual activity, but it does not mean she also agrees to other activities she had no idea of.
If the Allegations Against Graham Platner Happened in Your Country, What Would the Law Say?
Nigeria: There is no specific mention of stealthing in Nigerian law. But according to the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, rape is defined as any form of penetration with the use of force, coercion, threats, or “false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act.”
You could base the argument for the definition of a stealthing consent law case in Nigeria from the Act 2015, even though there has been no reported case to cover it. The limitation to this situation, however, is more with the fact that the VAPP Act is only enforceable in the Federal Capital Territory, and the states that have domesticated the Act, which presently excludes Kano State. Outside of this scope, a victim is left with no other choice than to be ruled by the older definition of rape contained in the Criminal/Penal Code.
United Kingdom: British courts have not issued any decisions on stealthing, but they have made rulings on the issue of condom removal.
In the 2011 Assange v. Sweden case, for example, the court held that the physical act of taking off a condom without the consent of one’s partner could lead to the invalidation of consent. In the R. v. Lawrence case, however, the defendant was convicted of failing to inform his partner that he had not undergone a vasectomy. He was later acquitted on appeal, the court holding that the deception was related to pregnancy risks and not the act itself. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the context of the act is considered—-whether the act took away the victim’s will to make a choice.
In practical terms, stealthing in UK law is only considered if there is enough evidence to prove that the deception involved the actual sex act.
United States: To date, California is the clearest example as its 2021 law on stealthing is a civil and not a criminal law—the woman files a lawsuit against her partner, but does not charge him. Meanwhile, other states like Maine and Washington have passed their laws on stealthing, while members of Congress have introduced bills regarding the issue, including the Stealthing Act of 2025 (H.R. 3084), but none has been made into a law. In the rest of the United States, the only possible way of dealing with stealthing is by relying on the existing statutes of sexual battery/assault.
Your state matters. So, your starting point should be a deeper look into your state’s laws on sexual assault or sexual battery.
Canada: The Craig Hutchinson case is recognized all over the world. According to the Criminal Code of Canada, any deception that creates a significant risk or harm to a person, such as being pregnant, may be considered an invalidation of consent. Canada is one of the few countries that has a clear approach towards prosecuting someone for sexual assault.
What Comes After You Know Your Rights
Emma Schwartz, a victim of stealthing who was testifying in favor of the bill, said she knew something terrible had happened to her. She cried herself to sleep feeling devastated, scared, confused, violated and deeply disrespected.
Because stealthing takes place in a situation a woman has already agreed to, it might leave you asking yourself questions like “Was it my fault? Who will take me seriously? What’s the point in filing a report? Women’s advocates believe that these doubts are natural and they do not in any way negate the act.
Staff writer at Women Digest covering beauty, fashion, wellness and life.