Spain influencer says he tells women 'he's sterile' to avoid condoms, Ministry intervenes

A Spanish social media influencer named Naim Darrechi is in troubled waters after confiding that he avoids using a condom by telling his sexual partners he is sterile. The man caused an outcry after he bragged in a video while the viewers could watch. Spain's Equality Minister, Irene Montero, has called for an investigation after the 19-year-old with 26 million followers on TikTok boasted about tricking women into having unprotected sexual intercourse. 

In the video, Naim Darrechi told YouTuber star Mostopapi, "I find it (intercourse) difficult with a condom, so I never use one. He added because none of his partners had got pregnant due to unprotected sex with him, "I started thinking that I had a problem, so I tell them, relax, I'm sterile. It's true." The interviewer can be seen giggling when he said this.

Meanwhile, Spain's Equality Minister Irene Montero firmly established that Darrechi might have contravened a law of the land because non-consensual sex is considered rape.

"Bragging to 26 million followers of something like this reflects the urgency of putting consent at the centre. We will inform Prosecutor's office," she established on Twitter.

Taking to Twitter, the Spanish minister wrote, "Taking off the condom or ejaculating inside without consent is today sexual abuse and the Law #SoloSíesSí will recognize it as aggression."

Spain's TikTok star Naim Darrechi apologises 

Later, on Instagram, Darrechi shared he wanted to apologise as he "sometimes" is unaware of the responsibility he has as an influencer with over 25 million subscribers. 

He said, "I want to apologise, really. Sometimes, I do not realise the responsibility that is mine. I made a comment that really is out of place and that is not right. Sometimes I say things and sometimes I exaggerate, but here it's just crazy what I said, I wish it had been cut at the edit and no one would ever have heard it."

While many anguished women and girls have condemned Naim Darrechi on Twitter as well as Spanish mainstream media have denounced his statement, Irene Montero had said that possible victims of sexual deception must be identified as Darrechi could face between one and 12 years of imprisonment if he was convicted of sexual misconduct under a new law passed earlier this month. The revised non-consensual sex amounts to rape and the new bill defined unprotected sex without consent as an assault, she established.

What are Spain's new rape laws?

In a massive revamp to protect women, Spain’s cabinet on July 6, approved a draft bill that requires consent for sex acts. Named ‘Only Yes Is Yes', the bill was proposed following an incident where an 18-year-old woman was raped but in the absence of violence, the act was labelled only as ‘sexual abuse’ and not ‘ sexual assault’. Additionally, the victim's inability to resist was also termed as a form of consent by the country's ambiguous criminal law. 

The proposed law "makes clear that silence or passivity do not mean consent, or that not showing opposition can not be an excuse to act against the will of the other person," government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told a news conference after the Cabinet meeting. If the bill gets passed by the country’s 616 member parliament, it would alter the definition of rape to be ‘forced sex without consent', increasing the strictness of the country’s laws against rape and sexual assault. It would also bring in violence and intimidation during the sexual assault. Additionally, it would also bring tighter laws and prison sentences for work-related sexual offences. Additionally, catcalling will be labelled as a criminal offence. 

The newly-formulated laws will come into effect later this year.